D'Amour
by Bex Drake
Summary: All Sakura wants to be is a ballet dancer and all Syaoran wants to do is inherit the Li clan after his father has died, but a dark shadow threatens their dreams and alters them permanently. COMPLETE. Chapter One - Edited.
1. Dancing Aspirations

**D'Amour**

**By Bex Drake**

**Disclaimer:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by CLAMP, various publishers including but not limited to TOKYOPOP, Kodansha, and Madhouse. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. The name Chase I got from Kitten- thanks for your help!

**Full ****Summary:** _All Sakura wants to be is a ballet dancer, to follow in the footsteps of her elder sister Ayame who tragically died when Sakura was five but her dreams are ruined because of one night of stupidity.  
Syaoran is a player. He thinks nothing of using girls and enjoys the bets he and his friends about who can sleep with the most girls, and the challenges that they challenge each other with. This all changes when his parents force him to face the consequences of his actions._

(Please find the Author's Note at the bottom of the page)

Dancing Aspirations

_Past__…_

Sakura sat on a large wooden chair swinging her legs back and forth waiting for her elder sister Ayame to finish her ballet lesson. Ayame was six years older than Sakura and was going Grade 4 ballet. She was very good at ballet, everyone thought that she was good enough to be in the English Royal Ballet and that was her ambition, but she didn't want to leave Sakura alone in the care of their aunt Uta and her many boyfriends, so Ayame was putting her career on hold- not that she let any of this on to Sakura.

Even at age eleven you could see the beautiful woman that Ayame would grow up into. She had flawless porcelain skin and large chocolate brown eyes that always seemed to be sparkling with laughter and life. Her mahogany hair already reached to just above her bottom and when it caught the light you could see rivers of red and gold within it. She was small for her age, petit, but even though she was so small she looked perfectly proportioned. She was the kind of girl that anyone felt that they could talk to. You could tell her any secrets and you knew that she would take them to the grave with her. When you were with her you never felt like you were walking in her shadow; she would laugh and talk with you about anything and everything. She was just full of life.

Ayame and Sakura were orphans. Their parents had died in a car crash when Ayame was eight and Sakura was just two. Ever since that day they had lived with their aunt Uta, who resented having to look after them but as she was the children's guardian she had no choice. Their only other live relatives were their uncle Fujitaka, their father's twin brother, and his son Toya. Fujitaka's wife Nadeshiko died in the car crash with Ayame and Sakura's parents. From day one Uta treated them badly, she made it perfectly obvious to Ayame and Sakura that she didn't want them and she wished that they had died in the car crash because they ruined her life. With them around she couldn't go out every night on the pull but it didn't stop her having a new boyfriend every other week. Seeing the way Uta treated Ayame and Sakura the boyfriends treated them with the same disdain, although they soon came to realise that both nieces would be more beautiful than the aunt. No matter how badly they were treated Ayame and Sakura were both always polite, which incensed their aunt. She couldn't understand why they didn't misbehave so she could chuck them out. So instead of chucking them out Uta forced them to do jobs around the house and when they were old enough she forced them to do jobs. Ayame taught lessons at the dancing school she and Sakura went to as well as doing a paper round. Sakura was forced to clean the house and to do the cooking with Ayame. Neither girl had an easy life. The only time that they could ever relax was when they danced, this was the only pastime that Uta let them have because the lessons were relatively inexpensive and it kept them out of the house. It was at the dancing school that Sakura met her two best friends: Tomoyo, and Rika. They were all in the same dance class and in the same class at school.

The door opened and Sakura looked up, watching as people left the classroom but there was no sign of her sister. She spotted Miyoko getting changed near by. "Hey Miyoko, where's Ayame?" She asked. Miyoko looked up startled.

"Oh yeah, I was supposed to tell you that Ayame will be a couple of minutes late she's talking to Miss Nariko." She replied slipping her ballet shoes into her bag, Sakura smiled her thanks at Ayame's best friend who chucked a bag of sweets at her grinning. "Don't eat them all at once." She advised slinging her bag over her shoulder and leaving the room.

Ayame

"Yeah, I'll teach Sakura how to do pas de chats but isn't it a little early for her to learn them?" She asked confused. Miss Nariko nodded.

"It is a bit." She replied. "But Sakura seems to have picked up the basics of how to do them from you and I just thought she might like to learn how to do them properly." Miss Nariko smiled. "She seems just as enthusiastic as you were when you first joined. How are things at home?" Ayame looked down at the floor.

"Aunt Uta has a new boyfriend, but apart from that everything is how it usually is." She replied pulling a face. Miss Nariko looked at her sympathetically.

"If you want to go to England I'll look after Sakura." She offered knowing that Uta would let her without a fight. Ayame shook her head.

"No it's okay. We'll be okay." Then she lent forward and hugged the closest thing to a mother she had. "Bye Miss Nariko, see you tomorrow." Turning she left the room and headed down the stairs to the dressing room where her younger sister Sakura was waiting. As she descended down the last few steps she caught sight of her younger sister who had large emerald eyes that portrayed her emotions and her light mahogany hair that swept just below her shoulders. They looked very alike except that Ayame knew that her younger sister would grow up to be breathtakingly beautiful but she would always carry a sadness in the depths of her emerald eyes. Ayame had foreseen this in a dream but the dream had never told her why Sakura would be so sad. "Hey squirt!" She yelled teasingly as she got off the final step, Sakura looked up and glared at her. "Let's go home." Ayame suggested with a sigh, 'home' was the last place that she wanted to be.

Sakura got up out of her chair and walked over to her elder sister and offered her a sweet. "Miyoko gave them to me." She remarked Ayame frowned but said nothing. She didn't want hand outs from her friends. They all knew how the situation at home was but she felt bad taking things from them. This was the one place where she refused to swallow her pride. Taking her younger sisters hand she guided her out of the room and onto the street heading homewards.

From the corner of their street they could see their house. Outside of the house a black ford was parked, the car belonged to their aunt Uta's latest conquest Chase. Chase was ten years older than Ayame making him twenty-one, ten years Uta's junior not that she cared. He had blonde curtains and blue child-like eyes. Uta thought that he was a real catch. Ayame and Sakura knew better he was a drunk and he had tried to feel up Ayame more than once but thankfully something had always happened to distract him. Ayame frowned noticing that their aunt's car wasn't in so she wasn't home yet. "What's wrong Aya?" Sakura asked curious. Ayame smiled at her.

"I forgot my dancing bag. Could you nip back and get it for me?" She begged, not wanting Sakura to step foot in the house until their aunt was back.

"But…" Sakura began frowning.

"Please will you do me this huge favour?" She asked. "Get Miss Nariko to drop you back here, okay?" She said firmly. Sakura nodded frowning and not looking at all happy but set off back to the dance school to get her elder sister's bag. With a sigh of relief Ayame faced the house. Never before had it looked so bleak and uninviting- and that **was** saying something. With an uneasy heart Ayame walked up to the house and undid the front door walking inside.

Sitting on the bottom step with a bottle of whiskey next to him was 'uncle' Chase. He looked up and grinned seeing her enter the house alone. "Hello sweet heart, where's Sakura?" He asked in a honey-toned voice Ayame shuddered knowing instantly that he was very, very, drunk.

"She had to go back to the dance school…" She murmured trembling slightly looking into his blue eyes. Within the blink of an eye he was standing ahead of her gently caressing her jaw.

"You're real beautiful…" He purred tipping her chin up, then he lent down and kissed her. This wasn't the first time he had kissed her and Ayame knew better than to struggle. This was why she didn't want her younger sister home. She wanted to protect her from their aunt's latest monster of a boyfriend. The kiss made her feel uncomfortable and it tasted of whiskey. When he finally broke it she backed up against the door, in an attempt to keep away from him but it was in vain because he was still holding firmly onto her chin. "Seeing as we're alone let's take this upstairs…" He purred smiling seductively at her. Ayame whimpered but didn't have the strength to break out of his grasp or to even try and fight him. He held out his hand and she took it, not understanding what he meant to do by taking it upstairs.

She led him up the stairs and then paused uncertainly on the landing. With a grin he led her into her room and closed the door pushing her onto the bed. She landed on the bed on her back and he knelt over her pinning her down. "Get off!" She pleaded; he was too heavy for her. He slapped her hard across the face, she screamed and tried to struggle but this only caused him to groan. She froze like a frightened cat seeing the predatory look in his eyes and the pressure against her lower abdomen. He leaned down and kissed her, pulling down the straps of her leotard at the same time. 'Oh God! He's going to rape me!' She thought frightened comprehending the situation at last and instantly began to struggle.

Sakura

She didn't understand why Ayame had sent her back to the dancing school to get her bag because Ayame very rarely bought her bag home and she had only brought it back today. Also she felt that she shouldn't have left her sisters side, that they both should have gone back to get the bag. She looked up at the old church hall where the dancing school was and walked inside. The lights were still on, which was a good thing she hated the dark. The dark was when all her aunt's men came and that was scary.

"Sakura?" Someone called from behind her. She jumped and spun around, only to find that it was Miss Nariko. "What are you doing back here?" She asked. "You're lucky you caught me, I was just about to go home." She explained.

"Ayame asked me to come back for her bag and she told me to ask you if you would give me a ride home, please?" She added, unsure why she knew that she needed to have Miss Nariko go with her. The teacher smiled at her.

"Of course, Sakura. Do you know where Ayame keeps her bag?" She asked. Sakura nodded. "Well I'll wait here for you, whilst you get it." The teacher said smiling; Sakura nodded again then sprinted off down the hallway to where she knew her sister's bag would be. Miss Nariko frowned watching Sakura dash off down the corridor. She knew that Ayame would only send Sakura to fetch her if she was worried about something.

She was still thinking about this when Sakura returned. "Who was home?" She asked curious.

"Er… I think Uncle Chad was." Sakura replied thoughtfully. "Or at least his car was outside." Miss Nariko nodded thoughtfully smiling at the way Sakura was clutching at her sister's bag. It was almost like the five-year-old knew that something was wrong.

"Come on, I'll drive you home." Miss Nariko said taking Sakura's free hand and leading her out of the old church hall and towards her car. "What do you think of your uncle Chad?" She asked curious, watching Sakura's face darken.

"I don't like him." She said firmly. "He tries to make Ayame do things she doesn't want to and aunt Uta always believes him when he denies that he did anything." She sulked. "It's not fair!" She complained. Miss Nariko hugged her.

"Life isn't sweetie." She replied truthfully.

After this comment the journey to the car, then to the house was travelled in silence. As the car pulled up outside the house Sakura noticed that all the rooms were dark, which was odd because Ayame always turned all the lights on when she was home. "Thanks for the lift home Miss Nariko." She said politely opening the door hesitantly.

"Would you like me to come in with you, I want to talk to Ayame anyway." Miss Nariko offered noticing Sakura's hesitancy. Sakura nodded gratefully and they both climbed out the car. Sakura waited patiently whilst Miss Nariko locked her car and then together they walked to the front door.

Sakura removed the key from a nearby plant pot and opened the door, turning the hallway light on as she walked inside followed by Miss Nariko. The house was deathly silent, even more so than usual.

An ear-piercing scream tore through the air. Then stony silence descended once again. Sakura froze where she was then ran full pelt up the stairs to her elder sister's room; somehow she knew that this was where the scream had come from. Without a second thought she flung open the door to the room. The sight she saw inside would forever give her nightmares.

Crumpled, naked, in a heap on the floor was her elder sister Ayame. She was lying in the middle of a puddle of ruby liquid. Sakura edged forward carefully and noticed uncle Chuck passed out on the floor nearby naked with a knife in his hand. Shaking Sakura tore her eyes away from her 'uncle' and took hesitant steps towards her sister. Without warning her knees gave and she ended up kneeling in the ruby liquid. Timidly she moved her sister onto her back. Ayame's eyes focused on her and she tried to smile. "I love you Sakura…" She whispered her voice breaking.

"Oh my God!" Miss Nariko yelled when she stepped into the room. Sakura looked up from Ayame and realised absently that she was crying.

"Miss Nariko!" She pleaded, causing the teacher to look at her. Miss Nariko rushed forward and placed her hand on Ayame's blood covered neck. Then she pulled it back and scooped Sakura up in her arms protectively. "Oh God!" She whispered again tears streaming down her cheeks as she hugged Sakura tightly.

It was then that Sakura realised that her elder sister was dead and she was all alone in the world.

_Present Day…_

Sakura smiled at her grade three students. Ever since her sister's death Miss Nariko bought her up and teaching the younger girls ballet for free was Sakura's way of paying her back. She didn't realise that her uncle Fujitaka, a millionaire, sent Miss Nariko enough money every month to look after her and put some of it aside for her future. There was a very good reason why Sakura didn't know this; it was because both adults knew that seventeen-year-old Sakura would not be at all happy with the arrangement even though it was for her benefit.

"Okay who can tell me what pas de chat translates as?" She asked, a nearby red heads hand shot up in the air. "Yes Lita?" She said smiling encouragingly at the ten-year-old, who like Sakura was small for her age.

"St…step of the ca…cat." Lita said going bright red and ducking her head. Sakura ruffled her hair affectionately as she walked past.

"Well done Lita. Pas de chat is 'step of the chat'. Does anyone know how to do it?" She asked and watched as the entire class shook their heads. "Well that's good because then everyone is on an equal footing. A pas de chat is a jump. To do a pas de chat you leap off the left leg, starting from a plié and raising the right leg into retiré. In mid-air, raise the left leg into retiré, too, so your legs form a diamond shape in the air. Land on your right leg with the left leg still in retiré; then bring it down, landing in another plié. This move is used in Swan Lake when the four cygnets dance with interlaced arms; they do sixteen pas de chats." She smiled at the class. "And this is what one looks like." She said positioning herself correctly, and then she demonstrated the move perfectly for the class. She had just landed when the bell, signifying end of lessons, went and the class started to move forward. "Wait." She said simply and everyone froze. "Everyone curtsey, and then you can go." She said, watching as they curtsied and then ran down the stairs. Grinning she started stretching and walked to a nearby mirror. She put her hands lightly on the bar and placed her feet in first position. "Plié and rise…" She murmured doing a full plié and then rising back into first before rising onto the balls of her feet, then lowering back to first. She moved into second position and repeated this exercise again but in second position.

She had just finished doing this exercise in fifth position when she heard clapping behind her. She looked in the mirror and saw Tomoyo and Rika behind her. She turned to face them. "When did you guys get here?" She asked starting to get changed and removing her leotard.

"When you had just started the third position one, but we didn't want to disturb you." Tomoyo said smiling.

"And of course she wanted to catch you on film." Rika added wickedly. Sakura groaned.

"You better have got my good side." She grumbled grinning knowing that Tomoyo and Rika knew that she was teasing.

"What other side of you is there?" Tomoyo teased. Sakura opened her mouth to retort in kind but thought better of it.

"Thanks." She said smiling, and then laughed at Tomoyo's expression.

"She's learning." Rika said, giving her a thumbs up.

"So what brings you guys here?" Sakura asked. "I thought we were meeting at Club 9 for rehearsals for tonight's performance Rika." Rika nodded.

"We came to pick you up." She explained. "Well… that and the fact I wanted the latest gossip from Tomoyo. She's found herself a boyfriend." She added by way of explanation. Sakura laughed watching Tomoyo blush.

"So… what's he like?" She asked curious. Tomoyo smiled.

"He's the bomb!" She said laughing as Sakura and Rika sweat dropped. "Seriously, he's got blue hair…

Sakura continued to get changed as she listened to Tomoyo describe her boyfriend. Apparently she had met the guy at one of the bar shows where Sakura and Rika performed nightly- and okay it wasn't ballet dancing but it kept her limber and her judo teacher was pleased with this, although annoyed that she point blank refused every time to take part in any competitions. He couldn't understand why someone who was so good at it refused to compete.

Sakura pulled on her black trousers over her ballet tights and stuck her feet in her sneakers; the top she wore was a light/baby pink T-shirt with Tinkerbelle from Peter Pan over her left-hand side. She pulled her hair out of its bun and brushed it. "I'm thinking about getting pink streaks in it, what do you guys think?" She asked. Tomoyo looked at her thoughtfully.

"Hot pink?" She questioned; Sakura nodded in agreement then winced at Tomoyo's squeal of delight. "That would suit you perfectly, bring out your emerald eyes more."

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news but what about when you audition for the Royal Ballet?" Rika questioned seriously.

"I'll dye it back." Sakura replied grinning. "I just feel like a change. I did tell you guys that I was going to the hairdressers before practise right?" She questioned frowning as she tried to remember if she had or not.

"Yep, that's why we came. We couldn't have you being late." Rika replied grinning evilly as Sakura ran her fingers through her red-brown hair. Hearing Rika's comment Sakura sweat dropped.

"You guys are the best, ya know?" She remarked grabbing her bag and swinging it over her shoulder.

"Of course." Tomoyo retorted smiling. "Are you ready?"

"Yep." Was Sakura's cheerful reply as she walked over to the door that linked the room to the one next door. She opened the door and stuck her head through. "Hey Miss Nariko, sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to tell you I'm going now." She yelled.

"What time will you be home?" Was Miss Nariko's response.

"About ten-ish, the last show's at half nine. If I'm going to be late I'll call you." Sakura remarked. "Bye!" Then she shut the door and walked back to her friends and held open the door for them as they headed off to the hairdressers so that Sakura could get her new look.

Syaoran

Syaoran looked around the group thoughtfully. The group comprised of himself, his cousin Hiiragizawa Eriol, and their best friends Kemp Matty and Marek Hiroshi. They had all been bought up together and were considered 'rich kids'. The 'kids' terminology was laughable- if only their parents knew what they got up to, although Syaoran had the feeling that his mother and father knew exactly what was going on and they were only tolerating his actions, waiting for him to slip up. Well he wasn't going to do that!

"Earth to Syaoran!" Eriol said waving his hand in front of his cousin's face. Syaoran's amber eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"What?!" He snapped.

"It's your turn." Matty said calmly. Matty was the youngest of the group having yet to turn eighteen, not that that stopped him having as much fun as everyone else. He had Californian surfer looks, with sandy blonde hair that was cut in the curtain style, a bronzed skin and sea blue eyes. He was the calmest of the group; or rather he appeared to be the calmest of the group. In fact he was perhaps the most 'wild'. He didn't do drugs, no one in the group did, it was the people he knew. They weren't exactly the 'nicest' people that you could come across.

Syaoran sighed, then picked up a card from the pile, glanced at it and then put it on the discard pile. He watched as Hiroshi picked up a card and discarded it also. Hiroshi was the eldest of the group being nearly nineteen; he had red hair and sky blue eyes. Hiroshi enjoyed having a laugh; he didn't care what price someone paid for his jokes, just as long as the jokes were amusing.

"What are we doing tonight?" Hiroshi asked as Eriol took his turn.

"We're meeting some of my friends." Matty reminded him. "I think you'll like them, they're part of an elite group…"

"What more elite than the Li clan?" Eriol said pretending to be offended. "I didn't think there was a group more elite than our clan, did you Syaoran?" Matty rolled his eyes.

"It's a gang, not a clan. I thought you guys might like it because they're… interesting." If Matty said a group was interesting, it meant that they were interesting. Although Syaoran and Eriol had never managed to work out if this was a good or bad thing. "Come on, you're not going to be chicken are you?" He laughed watching their reactions; he knew how to bait them.

"We said we'd go Matty." Syaoran remarked, smirking. "Who knows it may be the excitement that we are looking for." He drawled frowning as Matty picked up a card and placed three twos down and four aces before placing down his extra card.

"It looks like I won." Matty said cheerfully. Hiroshi raised an eyebrow, not believing that Matty had won without cheating.

Later…

Tomoyo

She and Rika waited impatiently at the front of the salon for Sakura to appear. Somehow Tomoyo knew that Sakura was going to look fantastic with the hot pink streaks in her hair. She smiled absently seeing Rika look out the window eyeing up any cute guy that walked past.

"Don't you think that he's got a good butt?" She asked pointing to a guy who was obviously with his girlfriend.

"I guess…" Tomoyo replied uncertainly, seeing the glare that the girl was sending them. Rika was, of course, oblivious to it.

"You guess what?" Sakura asked walking out from behind the screen that separated the waiting area from the salon. Tomoyo turned to look at her and yelped causing Rika to turn quickly and look at her. Sakura's cheeks turned red. "Well, what do you think?" She asked uncertainly.

Instead of having just streaks of hot pink Sakura had died her whole hair hot pink and had had darker and lighter shades added to make it look like it was her natural hair colour and funnily enough the effect worked brilliantly. If you didn't know her you would think that she had been born with pink hair- if having pink hair naturally was possible.

"You look…" Rika began.

"Wonderful, amazing, extraordinary, awesome," Tomoyo finished for her grinning. "It's certainly a change and it suits you." She said watching Sakura's eyes dance with happiness.

Eriol

Eriol looked up from the book he was reading; well re-reading he had read 'The Lord of the Rings' a couple odd times before Matty had wanted to see if books could swim. This was his latest copy and he was determined to keep it away from Matty who seemed to be anti Tolkien, for some unknown reason. Syaoran had entered the room, and he was curious as to why. It was an unspoken rule that of the four of them Syaoran was the leader.

"I see Matty has yet to have found that copy." Syaoran remarked gesturing at the book. "What did he do to the last one… oh I remember," He said grinning, amused at the memory.

FLASH BACK

"Matty give me the goddamn book, already!" Eriol snapped, scowling as he watched Matty attach the book to a rocket. "What are you doing?" He demanded as Matty lit the rocket and moved back. Eriol's scowl deepened.

The rocket launched itself into the sky and burst into blue and green sparks.

END FLASH BACK

Eriol sighed. "Precisely why I am going to keep it away from him. To what do I owe the pleasure of your company for, cousin?" He asked. Syaoran sat in an empty chair.

"What do you think of Matty's plan for tonight?" He asked. Eriol shrugged.

"It seems okay, but then so do a lot of Matty's ideas." Eriol looked thoughtfully. "Usually the ones that get us into the most trouble." Syaoran nodded.

"That's what I thought." He admitted. "What's worrying me is that we don't even know the gangs name." He pointed out. "They could be anyone, and it's not as if we couldn't be used to get ransom money." He sighed.

There was a knock on the door and Hiroshi walked into the room shutting the door behind him. "I thought I saw you come in here Li." He said. "I just overheard Matty on the phone and I think that the gang he's taking us to see is…"

Sakura

Waving goodbye to Tomoyo, who had just received a call from her mother, Rika and Sakura walked into the club so that they could practise their dance routines. The club was, as usual, very silent because there were no punters inside as it didn't open until eight. So it shocked Rika and Sakura when they walked into the main area and found the front two tables occupied. Shrugging they walked through the stage door to their changing area and changed into their leotards and put on their jazz boots- a special, soft leather, flexible boot that dancers use.

"Lady Marmalade first?" Rika asked sticking the CD into the stereo. Sakura nodded in agreement. It was their favourite track to dance to, the audience always seemed to agree because it was the one they got the most applause to, so it was always the last one that they did.

The music started and Sakura and Rika walked onto the stage. _'Where's all my soul sisters/ Let me hear y'all flow sisters/ Hey sister, go sister, soul sister, flow sister'_ Sakura slipped down into the splits as Rika went down in a crab and then pushed herself up so she was doing a hand stand. Sakura brought her back leg to the front and stood up, whilst Rika came down from her handstand. They then began dancing; using moves that they both knew by heart because they had danced to the song so many times before.

As the last notes of the song faded away Sakura and Rika heard their audience clapping, as one they smiled and bowed before walking off of the stage and turning the stereo off. "That felt good." Rika said beaming. "Tonight should be our best performance if that rehearsal was anything to go by." Sakura shook her head amused.

"Excuse me." Said a man in the shadows. Rika and Sakura span around to face him. "But is one of you Kinomoto Sakura?" He asked.

"I am." Sakura replied frowning. "But you shouldn't be back here."

"Sorry." The guy apologised. "But Amodeus Lars told me to come and get you; he wants to talk to you." Sakura sighed. Lars was her mother's younger brother; she wondered why he wanted to talk to you.

"It's okay Rika; I'll meet you back here in five, ok?" She asked following after the guy not giving her friend a chance to reply. The guy led her to one of the two tables that she and Rika had noticed were occupied earlier. Her Uncle Lars was lounging across the table watching her approach. He had emerald eyes like her but he had blonde hair. He smiled in welcome at her. "Hi Lars." She said in greeting standing opposite him, so her back was to the stage.

"Sit down." He commanded gesturing to a chair one of the men had placed behind her. Obediently Sakura sat down. "Have you heard of the panthers?" He asked and raised an eyebrow when Sakura shook her head. He had thought that Uta might have mentioned it but then he remembered that Sakura had lived with the ballet teacher since she was five. "The panthers are a gang." He replied studying Sakura to see what her reaction to this was. "But they aren't just any gang," He continued. "They are my gang. At the moment I am The Panther." He smirked.

"What has this got to do with me?" Sakura asked curious. He had never brought up the fact that he was leader of a gang before, why was he bringing it up now? Lars sighed, he didn't want to bring his young niece into his world but he had no choice. He had to ask her, it was the law of the gang. Nadeshiko and Uta had both been asked but they had both refused. But unlike her mother Sakura wouldn't have a choice; he needed her in the gang.

"Since you are seventeen I have to ask you if you want to join the Panthers because you are close family." 'The closest I have' he added silently. "I would have asked Ayame if she was alive, but she isn't. Therefore you, my little niece, have to fore fill your family duty and join the Panthers. You have no choice." He added, looking at her sorrowfully brushing his golden locks out of his eyes.

Sakura sighed, thinking about what he had just said. "Why do I have to join?" She asked her emerald eyes narrowing. "You can at least tell me why, seeing as it looks like I have no choice." Looking into her emerald eyes Lars could tell that she was less than happy; he knew that she deserved an answer.

"You may have heard that there have been a lot of gang wars." He began; she nodded having seen a news report about it. "I need to unite this gang with another, and you are the only way that I can do this as I have no children of my own. If I do not unite this gang then we shall be destroyed, we are not powerful enough to withhold the Ravens on our own." He sighed. Sakura reached across the table and squeezed his hand; he looked up at her surprised.

"I will join the gang for you, but you will need to explain everything to me." She said smiling wryly; Lars didn't miss the sadness in her eyes. He knew that she was only doing this because it was her duty. "What do I have to do?"

Syaoran

Eriol and Syaoran looked at each other digesting the news that Hiroshi had just given them; Matty wanted them to meet the Ravens. That was not good. The Li clan was part of the Wolves; the major driving force behind it and Syaoran's father was The Wolf making Syaoran next in line for the title. They both knew that as soon as they walked into the Raven's lair they would be captured. Neither of them wore the tattoo that signified them as a Wolf because they had not yet joined but they knew that they would be recognised.

The phone rang making both Syaoran and Eriol jump. Syaoran leaned over and picked it up. "Hello?" He began.

"Syaoran." Li Ieran replied.

"Hello Mother." He replied, looking at Eriol he wondered what his Mother wanted. He heard his Mother swallow. "What's wrong?" He asked concerned.

"Your father was attacked by the Raven's earlier." She replied her voice wavering. "He requests that you and Eriol return immediately to our house so that you can be initiated into the Wolves." Syaoran frowned, he didn't miss the fear in his Mother's voice, he knew that it was unlikely that his father would live the night.

"We're on our way." He replied placing the receiver down then he turned to Eriol. "We need to go to my parents' house." He said standing up and leaving the room, wondering what on earth was going on Eriol followed after his cousin.

Sakura

Sakura decided that having a tattoo was definitely one of the most physically painful things to have happened to her- it came a close second to breaking her arm. She looked in the mirror at her shoulder blade. On it was a Black Panther with golden claws outstretched and a golden crown over its head. As the guy who had done the tattoo but some gauze over it to protect it Sakura sort out her Uncle Lars' eyes. "What exactly does the tattoo mean?" She enquired.

Lars ran a hand through his hair absently. "The Black Panther in mid leap signifies the gang." He remarked and watched as Sakura nodded in understanding. "The golden claws signify that you are high up in the gang, maybe a leader or the partner of a leader." Sakura looked at him startled but didn't say anything. "The golden crown tells everyone that knows that you are a member of the first Panther family, that you are royalty." He grinned wryly. "You will meet our people at a party on Saturday." Sakura nodded glad that it was on her day off.

"Lars? I'd rather that I had a pseudonym than everyone knew my real name, at least until I have to meet the gang." She swallowed. "And I'd like to use this party so that I can mingle in the crowds so that I can understand our people better." Lars looked at her with respect; it looked like she actually wanted to make a proper go of this.

"Alright, little one. What shall we call you though?" He mused.

"Cherry Blossom." Sakura replied with a wicked grin. Lars laughed.

"Okay little Cherry Blossom, I'll see you later in the week." He added standing up.

"Goodbye Uncle Lars." She said hugging him and then she turned and walked backstage to where she knew Rika was waiting for her. As Sakura pushed open the door a very annoyed looking Rika looked up.

"Where have you been?!" She demanded looking absolutely furious. "You've been gone almost two hours! You could have told me, I've been sitting back here worrying." She hissed causing Sakura to flinch.

"Rika I'm…" She began but Rika rushed up to her and hugged her crying. "I'm so sorry." She finished hugging Rika back tightly. "I didn't realise what the time was."

Syaoran

Syaoran looked through the glass window that separated him from his father's bedside. His father was surrounded by machines and covered in tubes that were doing Lord knows what to him. A doctor walked out of the room and headed towards Syaoran and his mother. "Mr Li's condition has stabilised." He informed them. "The next forty eight hours are critical." A nurse walked up to the doctor and whispered something to him then they both walked back into the room shutting the door firmly behind them. Syaoran turned to his mother.

"Syaoran, your father asked that we initiate you tonight in case he does not survive." Li Ieran said frankly putting aside her worry for her husband. "Even if he does live, which I hope he does, you still need to become a member and fulfil your duty." Syaoran frowned.

"What duty?" He demanded as Eriol rounded the corner with three cups of coffee. "What duty, mother?" Ieran looked at her son; he was getting more like his father every day. She gratefully took the coffee from Eriol.

"Thank you." She said taking a sip from the cup then she looked at her youngest child and eldest son. "The clans need to unite," She said seriously. "The Ravens have become too much of a threat for any clan to stand alone against them, if we did we would all be destroyed. Apart we are weak, together we are strong."

"What have I got to do with this?" Syaoran inquired his voice deceptively calm. Eriol looked at Ieran.

"To unite the clans the blood of the royal families is supposed to combine, therefore the only way would be marriage." Eriol said ignoring Syaoran and focusing on his aunt who nodded.

"Eriol is right." She agreed. "Your father has already arranged it. The Wolves are to unite permanently with the Panthers." She sighed. "I'm sorry Syaoran but…"

"But I have no other choice." Syaoran finished for her, looking at his father lying on the bed. "What must I do?"

Eriol

Syaoran was taking it rather better than he thought that he would, but then again Syaoran always was big family duty- the whole Li clan was, including Eriol.

"Are you going to join Eriol?" Aunt Ieran asked turning to look at him as she led Syaoran away. Syaoran stopped and turned his amber eyes towards him. Eriol swallowed.

"Sure, Aunty Ieran." He replied. "Mother will expect me to."

"Then you can join now, with Li." She said beckoning him to follow after her.

Ieran led Syaoran and Eriol to a nearby room inside of which stood two men who stood up respectfully when Ieran entered the room. This more than anything Ieran had said confirmed to them that she was telling the truth. "These are the two I was talking about." She said. "This is Syaoran and Eriol" She continued gesturing to them in turn. The guys nodded and Eriol noticed them shooting occasional glances at Syaoran, who was of course ignoring them. She smiled at them and left the room, Eriol glanced to Syaoran slightly concerned that was the only visible sign either of them gave to their ill ease.

Tomoyo

She had left Sakura and Rika a couple of hours ago and now she was bored, she knew that they both would still be there practising so she made her way over to the club. She walked into the dark club and was slightly perturbed noticing that there was no sign of either of her friends. So she went around to there changing room where she found both of them sitting in silence and Sakura looking close to tears. "Hi guys." She said smiling. "What's wrong?"

"I'm not allowed to work here anymore, tonight's my last show." Sakura said at last, breaking the silence. "Uncle Lars said so."

"You're nearly eighteen." Rika pointed out. "I don't see why he's suddenly being so over protective." Tomoyo watched with interest as Sakura's shoulders sagged.

"He just is, that's all." Was her reply, although Tomoyo could tell that there was something that her friend wasn't saying. "I'm really sorry Rika but I have no choice." Sakura swallowed. "Are we still friends?"

Rika looked at her startled. "Of course we are!" She replied smiling.

"Good." Sakura whispered getting up and hugging her.

"Well we've got to make sure you go out with a bang tonight then." Tomoyo said grinning.

"You only have that look when you want us to wear one of your dresses." Sakura murmured trading a quick glance with Rika.

"Oh, but you'll both like these ones." Tomoyo retorted smiling secretively. Sakura sighed and looked at her best friend, then smiled.

"I'm sure we will." She replied. "You always do design fantastic dresses." Tomoyo blushed and her eyes went starry.

"You really think so?" She demanded. Rika nodded.

"Come on Tomoyo, this is Sakura we're talking about!" She said in a teasing tone, earning herself a slap on the shoulder from Sakura. She smiled innocently at Sakura, who rolled her eyes.

"So when are we going to meet the boyfriend of yours?" Sakura asked in the hope that they would give her some peace. Tomoyo shrugged.

"How about Friday?" She asked and watched as Rika and Sakura nodded in turn. "Friday night it is then." She said grinning.

Syaoran

Syaoran looked at the wolf tattoo on his right arm amused. If you didn't know better you would think that it was an ordinary white wolf tattoo but if you looked closely you could see that the wolf was outlines in silver and had silver fangs. Only the 'royal' family were allowed to have white wolves and the silver signified that you were a leader. Even if he did say so himself the tattoo was impressive. When he became The Wolf the tattoo would also be outlined in gold, like his fathers was.

He turned to see Eriol looking at him. Eriol too supported a white wolf tattoo outlined in silver; he was after all Syaoran's cousin and therefore deserved such honour. "Do you want to go home?" Eriol asked and then smiled seeing the look in Syaoran's eyes. "Let's go to a club and then home." He suggested. "But remember you're the only single one." Syaoran laughed.

"She's got you wrapped around her little finger already Eriol, what are we going to do?" He teased.

_To be continued…_

**Author's Note: **29/01/08 Hi, in case you are because the story has been updated – it hasn't – I've just gone through this chapter and edited a bit, because frankly some of the mistakes were embarrassing. To be truthful I am not happy with this story at all, and I have recently started editing the piece. So you will hopefully end up with a better and more conclusive ending – the current one is rather abrupt. In order to do this I will probably be removing this story from FanFiction [dot net so that it will be easier to replace chapters, in the meantime please fell free to continue reading and enjoying what is up here.


	2. Starcrossed lovers

D'Amour

By Bex Drake

Authors Note: I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has been kind enough to review. I have noticed that the majority of you have commented on the fact that the last chapter was very similar to Little Wolf LOVER's stories- my apologies, I really like her stories and I've read most of them but it is purely accidental on my part that this story is so similar. I do not wish to plagiarise her work, hopefully this chapter will be better and have nothing which could be classed as plagiarism in it. I have sent an email of apology to Little Wolf LOVER.

Second off I would just like to say that the summary I wrote in the previous chapter is wrong. This is the correct summary:

__

Things that happen in the past shape our futures, our destinies. Destiny cannot be altered or run from. Our Destiny is our Nemesis, the Goddess of retribution. Nemesis will hunt you down, for she is unrelenting in dishing out her retribution. All Sakura wants to be is a ballet dancer and all Syaoran wants to do is inherit the Li clan after his father has died, but a dark shadow threatens their dreams and alters them permanently. 

All replies to individual reviews will be posted at the end of the chapter so that it's easier for me in case anyone reviews after I've started to write this. 

Star-crossed lovers

Uta

There was only one more day, one more goddamn day until Chase was released from jail and then the plans for revenge could begin. Although Uta had yet to inform Chase that there were any plans- opps! Uta had changed a lot since she had last seen her damned niece Sakura and not in a good way. She had become more manipulative more apt at deception but then again that came as part of the territory when you were leader of the Ravens and you were leading them to war. You stopped worrying about the small people. But then Sakura wasn't small, at least as far as Uta was concerned. Sakura was anything but small; she was a thorn in the side, the pebble that changes the course of the river. Uta wanted her dead. What Uta wanted always happened, or there was hell to pay.

"Mistress?" Lin Zachary purred. Uta turned to look at him, he wasn't that bad looking if she didn't have Chase she would have been sorely tempted to claim Zack as her own but it wasn't to be. "News has reached us that Lars is protecting Sakura and his 'pack' by making her his heir and marrying her off to the Wolves." Uta smiled at him and then laughed a cold cruel laugh.

"All is going to plan then." She murmured smiling. It was a pity that Chase had had to go into prison but then you had to pay a price for everything and that was the price she was paying for slitting Ayame's throat. Well, she couldn't have that little hussy alive when she infatuated Chase so. It had been useful that Chase had passed out right after having sex with the little slut and then couldn't remember what had happened the next day, very useful indeed. It was just a pity that Nariko had had to interfere. If she hadn't both little sluts would have been dead and buried by now, but oh well. At least this way she got to have some fun.

"Mistress, it seems that Li Syaoran and Hiiragizawa Eriol are more tricky than we thought. Not only did they not turn up in the club as Kemp Matty promised they would, inside sources have said that they have both officially joined the Wolves." Zack told her with more than a little trepidation.

"Damn!" She hissed her eyes blazing with fury. "Where is Matty? He needs to be taught a lesson." Zack smiled at her, a cold smile that held no trace of warmth. 

"That can be arranged, mistress, seeing as he is currently sleeping off last nights drinks in one of the rooms." Uta chuckled and ran her finger gently over Zack's cheeks, and then she leaned in and hissed him softly on the lips. Slowly she drew back and licked her lips holding his gaze.

"Well done." She purred, enjoying basking in the flaming passion in his eyes. "Would you fetch him for me, please?" She asked making her eyes large and child like, innocent almost. "Then maybe you can play with him or possibly me." She winked at him, then watched him amused as he blinked and rushed off to do as she had requested. He was so easy to manipulate, but at the same time there was something about him that was so… so endearing. Maybe she would have him anyway, at least he was faithful to her… decisions, decisions. Which guy to pick, they both had their uses…

Why was life so formidable?

Cautiously she draped herself across on a nearby chair waiting Zack's return. Just as she was beginning to get impatient Zack returned with Matty, who was wearing handcuffs. Zack shoved him roughly on the floor so he ended up kneeling in front of her. She smiled at him, rather like cat smiles at a mouse. "Hello Matty." She purred. He looked up startled and she slapped him as hard as she could, causing him to fall to the ground. "That's for failing to do your job." She spat as Zack plonked him back in his earlier position roughly. "If I ask you to do something I want you to do the job right the **first** time because as far as I'm concerned it's one strike and then you're out." She laughed seeing the fear enter his eyes. "And you see Matty that was your one strike, so I guess you're out." She noticed with open contempt that he was starting to shake already and all she'd done was hit him, oh and threaten him. "Aww look at the scared little puppy." She taunted. Matty glared at her, which only cause her to laugh more. "You know what Zack?" She purred. Zack cocked his head to one side in question. "I think he would serve as a very good message to Syaoran." She said running her finger along Matty's cheek softly, almost tenderly, she watched amused as he began to relax.

"I agree mistress," Zack replied understanding her plan at once. They would torture Matty sexually and physically and then leave him where Syaoran would find him. Matty was bound to tell Syaoran everything and then… then the fun would begin. "It sounds like another of your brilliant plans." He was rewarded a genuine smile. She got up out of her chair and walked over to him, ignoring Matty, and kissed him. She was teasing him, testing him, just like she did with everyone and it served the purpose of arousing Matty. She grinned silently inside. Maybe she should swap Chase for Zack- Zack was definitely much more fun- maybe…

Sakura

Last nights performance had been as fantastic and as horrible as she had thought it would be. The performance itself had gone fantastically well, never before had she and Rika dance as though they were one person; they had both known exactly when the other was going to jump, or twist and they were always there to catch them. It was a totally amazing experience, it was just a pity that it was marred by the fact that it was the last time she would ever perform there- although she had neglected to tell Tomoyo or Rika this.

"Sakura!" Miss Nariko yelled. Sakura turned to face her teacher and guardian who was glaring at her at the moment. "What on earth possessed you to dye your hair that colour and get a tattoo?!" She demanded. Sakura sighed.

"I wanted to dye my hair this colour. I wanted a change, do you think it suits me?" she asked curious. "And as for the tattoo I didn't really have a choice about it. If you join a gang then you have to have a tattoo…"

"You've joined a gang?" Miss Nariko yelped. "Which gang?" She demanded her eyes going steely. Sakura swallowed.

"The Panthers." She replied and then continued when Miss Nariko opened her mouth. "Yes I am fully aware of what I am getting myself into and that I will be married off."

"Did your Uncle Lars tell you that you'd have to give up dancing… that you'd have to give up ballet." Sakura swallowed, no Lars had not told her this but she couldn't back out of it now. She looked at Miss Nariko with wide shimmering emerald eyes.

"Yes, I know." She whispered looking away from Nariko to hide from her just how much that little piece of information was tearing her up inside. She shouldn't have bothered because Nariko saw it before Sakura turned her head and it tore her up as well. Sakura was just like a daughter to her… no Sakura was her daughter, maybe not biologically but she had bought her up. Lars was so going to pay for causing that amount of pain. 

The doorbell rang and with a sigh Nariko went to answer it. Standing outside the door was Lars. "Hi." He said sheepishly, he could tell from the look on her face that she had been talking to Sakura.

"Hi indeed." She replied her voice cold.

"Hey Lars!" Sakura called from the sitting room. Nariko watched in annoyance as she let him walk past and go to Sakura. "What brings you here?"

"You know how I said you needed some training?" He inquired, Sakura nodded she remembered. "Well I'm here to take you to… to your teacher, so we can see how good you are and what you need to learn." Sakura looked at him uncertainly.

"But I'm supposed to meet Tomoyo and Rika." She said softly. Lars tousled her hair affectionately. 

"I'm sorry Sakura. Why don't you meet them after training?" He suggested, ignoring the scowl he was receiving from Nariko. Sakura sighed and smiled at him.

"Okay." She whispered softly getting up and walking over to him. "I'll see you later Nariko." She murmured hugging Nariko tightly.

"Of course you will." Nariko replied as she let Sakura go. "Look after her." She instructed Lars. "Or there will be hell to pay." Lars smiled wryly at her as he ushered Sakura out of the door.

"Don't worry she'll come back in once piece." He promised as he shut the door.

Rika

Rika scowled as she put the phone down, she had just called Miss Nariko to find out where Sakura was and had been told that Sakura had gone out with her Uncle Lars and that she apologised for not being able to make it- why hadn't Sakura called her? What was going on? And last night Sakura had seemed suspiciously upset for someone who was only giving up dancing short term. Why wasn't Sakura talking to her? Maybe Tomoyo knew more. So with that in mind Rika dialled Tomoyo's mobile phone. 

"Tomoyo here." Tomoyo said answering within the first three rings.

"Hey!" Rika replied cheerfully. "Apparently Sakura isn't going to be joining us until later."

"How come?" Tomoyo demanded wondering what was wrong.

"According to Miss Nariko Sakura had to go out with her Uncle Lars, you know the one who has told her that she can't dance at the club anymore?"

"Uh-huh" Tomoyo replied uncertainly.

"I was just wondering if you knew what was going on." Rika asked bluntly. "None of this is like Sakura at all."

"No I have no idea." Tomoyo replied after thinking about this for a couple of minutes. "I hope she's free tomorrow, maybe we should talk to her then?" She suggested. "Still up for shopping?"

"You bet!" Rika replied grinning. "Yeah, I think we should and well… it's Sakura's loss not coming with us it means we get to pick the outfits for tomorrow all by ourselves." She added her grin turning evil.

"Yep, same outfit different colours." Tomoyo quoted, remembering what they said every shopping trip. If they were going anywhere special it was always the same outfit but in different colours. Sakura always had pink, Tomoyo blue and Rika lilac. The only thing that they always had differently was their hair. 

Tomoyo

Tomoyo already had a good idea what they were all going to wear on Friday. The outfit comprised of a black mini skirt and a low cut silk blouse in their signature colour, with high-heeled sandals the same colour as the shirt. Which reminded her she had better called Eriol. "Well I've got to go, see you in five Rika." She said then hung up before quickly dialling Eriol. It took two attempts before Eriol picked up his phone.

"Hey" He said tiredly.

"Hey babe." She replied. "What's up? You sound tired." Eriol sighed.

"You know my cousin Syaoran? I told you about him, right?" He asked.

"Uh-huh" Was her reply, she remembered Eriol telling her about Syaoran.

"Well his father was rushed into hospital last night."

"Oh my God! How awful for him!" Tomoyo exclaimed. "Is Mr Li okay?"

"He's stable." Eriol replied sounding slightly unhappy. "Why did you ring me anyway?" He enquired. Tomoyo sighed softly.

"I was going to ask if you wanted to come and meet my best friends- Sakura and Rika- but I doubt that you'd want to. I was also going to ask you to bring Syaoran and another of your friends but…" She trailed off uncertainly.

"I'll ask him, hang on a sec." Eriol said and then not giving Tomoyo a chance to reply he asked Syaoran. Tomoyo could hear a muffled conversation in the background after a couple of minutes Eriol picked the phone up. "When?" He asked.

"Tomorrow okay with you?" She asked.

"Tomorrow's fine. We couldn't have done Saturday cause we're going… actually Tomoyo are you doing anything on Saturday?"

"I thought you were 'busy'." She replied. "But no I'm not, why?" Eriol chuckled.

"I might be thinking about taking you out." He purred in response. Tomoyo blushed.

"Well…"

Syaoran

Syaoran scowled when the phone went, from the look on Eriol's face it looked like the caller was Eriol's latest girl. What was her name again? Oh yeah Tomoyo. Syaoran wondered where Eriol had met Tomoyo his cousin and best friend hadn't been very forthcoming about that, in fact he had never answered the question.

"Fancy doing something on Friday?" Eriol asked holding the mobile against his chest. Syaoran shook his head, he wasn't really in the mood besides which it wasn't like he could look because he was going to marry the Panther's niece- whoever she was. 

"No." He replied firmly seeing the look in Eriol's eyes.

"No, you go with him Syaoran." Ieran instructed firmly. "There's nothing you can do here except brood and that is not good for you. Where are you going?" She asked. Eriol shrugged.

"To meet Tomoyo and some of her friends." He replied before going back to his conversation with Tomoyo. Syaoran glared at his mother, how dare she interfere. Ieran returned his gaze with indifference, she was not going to be intimidated by her son- besides which he was no where near as good as his father; or maybe that was because she was his mother and she could always make his life hell if he displeased her.

"You are going to go and have fun tomorrow night because it is on Saturday that you will meet your fiancée. You might as well have one last night of fun." She pointed out practically. Syaoran sighed. He hated it when his mother was right, which was a bit of a problem really considering that she was nearly always right. 

"Fine, you know best." He murmured.

"Of course." Ieran replied with a wicked grin. "And don't bother yourself about your father, he's a strong man and he will pull through." Syaoran nodded half-heartedly. 

Next Day (aka Friday)…

Sakura

She stood looking in the mirror at the outfit Tomoyo and Rika had selected for her, it wasn't as risqué as she had expected. They were up to something! At least Lars had allowed her to go out with them, she was beginning to think that he wasn't going to let her but then Nariko had had a quite word with him and suddenly he wasn't against her going- it made her wonder what exactly Nariko had said to him. Although having seen the outfit she wasn't sure that he would let her go whatever Nariko said. The black mini skirt five inches from her knees and the silk pink low cut blouse clung to her bosoms and was tied in a knot above her flat pale stomach and the pink sandals made her at least four inches taller. The whole outfit was stunning. She couldn't wait to see what Tomoyo and Rika looked like.

Sakura turned and looked into the mirror fiddling with her hair, which she had twisted and clipped to the back of her head with a silver butterfly clip. Her make-up was really simple as she had no desire to attract any male attention towards herself as she was soon to be engaged to some guy she had never met- wonderful! The door to her room opened and Tomoyo walked in, Sakura frowned she hadn't heard the doorbell ring otherwise she would have gone to answer the door. "Hey!" Tomoyo said before flopping down on the bed. Grinning Sakura turned away from the mirror to look at her. Tomoyo's hair was loose over her shoulders and it fell in shimmering waves down her back. Her outfit looked just the same as Sakura's did except that it was pink and she was wearing a gold heart shaped pendant that hung just above the v of the shirt over her bosom. "Hi" Sakura replied having taken in Tomoyo's outfit. "You look amazing, how do I look?" She asked with a wry grin.

"Almost as good as me." Tomoyo replied a smile tugging at her lips. "Nah! You look incredible Sakura! I mean you looked amazing last night on stage but now you look something else, this outfit is definitely you!" Sakura blushed and brushed some non-existent hair off of her face. "So are you ready?" Tomoyo prompted, Sakura nodded and grabbed her bag.

"Yep, I've just got to say bye to Nariko and Uncle Lars." She explained. Tomoyo nodded, finally she would get to see what this Lars guy looked like and maybe find out something about him. Sakura walked out of her room with Tomoyo following behind and along the hallway and down the stairs and into the living room where Nariko was sitting at one end of the couch and Lars at the other and they were watching some documentary or other on the TV. "I'm off." She announced causing both pairs of eyes to instantly focus on her.

"Okay, have fun!" Nariko instructed with a grin before turning back to the documentary. Lars scowled.

"Take care of yourself and ring me when you want to come home." He instructed his eyes flickering to Tomoyo who just smiled at him.

"You don't have to worry Mr Amoedus, I'll give her a lift home in my car." She said politely. Lars scowl deepened but he nodded with a sigh.

Lars

"Okay. Have fun." He said with a grin. Sakura and Tomoyo left the room and Lars watched them leave. He beckoned for a guy previously hidden in the shadows to come forward. "Follow them and keep an eye on Cherry Blossom, make sure no harm befalls her or her friends." He instructed. He was not at all happy about her going to this club place she was going to but as Nariko said it would be her last night of freedom. From tomorrow night she would be Li Syaoran's fiancée.

Sakura

Sakura was glad that Tomoyo had bought the limousine but at the same time she wasn't because the limousine only attracted attention to them, which wasn't good. If Lars had seen it Sakura knew that he would have been less than happy, but he hadn't and what he didn't know didn't hurt him. The limousine pulled to a stop outside Rika's house and the front door opened and Rika bounded down the path into the limousine. "Hey guys!" She said as she shut the door and looked at Tomoyo who nodded. The limousine pulled away and the driver put up the screen to give the girls a bit of privacy. "What's going on Sakura?" Rika demanded. Sakura looked at her confused.

"What do you mean what's going on?" She asked. Rika rolled her eyes.

"You know exactly what I mean." Rika replied and then continued, by way of explanation. "The fact you've given up dancing in the club and that you stood me and Tomoyo up yesterday." Sakura looked at her helplessly.

"I'm giving up ballet too." She whispered figuring that she may as well tell them now.

"You're what?!" Tomoyo yelped. "But I thought your dream was to become a ballet dancer."

"It was." Sakura replied.

"It was? Why are you giving up your dream?" Tomoyo asked looking at Sakura worriedly, Rika echoing her. Sakura looked out of the window.

"Because circumstances change and what we want isn't always what we get." She whispered as the limousine pulled up outside the restaurant where they were meeting Eriol and his friends. "What are the names of Eriol's friends?" She questioned by way of distraction.

"Li Syaoran and Marek Hiroshi, I believe." She replied as the driver opened the doors and all three girls stepped out onto the street. Sakura nodded thoughtfully.

"Do you know anything about either of them?" Rika demanded wondering if either of them would be cute and free. Tomoyo grinned knowing what and why her friend wanted to know.

"Nothing like that." She replied chuckling watching Rika pout. "All I know is that Eriol and Syaoran are cousins and best friends." Rika sighed and then grinned.

"Ah well, looks like I'll have to find out for myself." She said suddenly cheerful.

Syaoran

Syaoran sighed. This was not how he had envisioned the evening going. He had thought that if he kept quite and did not complain about going he could accidentally forget that he was supposed to be going out with Eriol and stay home, but no such luck. Ieran had anticipated such a move from her son and had been well prepared forcing him to get ready over an hour before the meeting. The only vaguely interesting thing he had learnt was that Daidoji Tomoyo was from a rich family and that she was bringing her two best friends with her but Eriol was less than fourth coming with the names. 

The restaurant itself wasn't that impressive. It wasn't one of the upmarket ones that he and Eriol usually visited, he wondered about that. Surely all of them were of the same class? He looked up catching Eriol watching him intently. "No, we're not." He replied having guessed what Syaoran was thinking about. "One of Tomoyo's friends definitely isn't and the other doesn't know that she is because her family didn't bring her up, or rather the rich part of her family didn't."

"What are there names again?" Hiroshi tried. Eriol laughed.

"I didn't tell you them." He replied. "But I suppose you should know them seeing as they know yours and have just arrived outside." Syaoran glared at him, trust his cousin. From the look in Eriol's eyes Syaoran knew that he was planning something. "One's called Sasaki Rika and the other Kinomoto Sakura." Eriol said innocently ignoring his cousin's glare.

Eriol's faced brightened as he looked over Syaoran's shoulder, having just caught sight of Tomoyo. From this Syaoran could tell that Eriol really must like the girl. "Will you just drop it!" One of them hissed as Eriol, Syaoran and Hiroshi got up to greet the girls. "Now is not the time." Syaoran looked from one girl to the next and discovered that it was the pink haired one talking her, her emerald eyes blazing with annoyance. Amber and Emerald locked for a minute before emerald tore themselves away and went back to 'talking' to her friends.

As the girls reached the table they stopped talking and smiled at the guys, although Syaoran could see that the emerald-eyed girl was still annoyed. He wasn't sure how he could tell, and then it dawned on him he could see it in her eyes. Of all the girls she was the one that attracted- no demanded his attention. It wasn't her pink hair or her emerald eyes; there was something about her…

"Eriol!" The dark haired one with blue eyes exclaimed happily hugging his cousin, who kissed her on top of the head. She pulled back and smiled at him, Eriol lent down and kissed her. So that was Tomoyo, she wasn't bad but her emerald-eyed friend was something else…

"Well we know who Eriol is." The red haired one drawled smirking slightly. Syaoran had to admit that she was very pretty in her own way. "Who are you two?" She asked, the emerald-eyed goddess rolled her eyes.

"Rika!" She said her lips twitching into a smile.

"Sakura!" Rika replied back in exactly the same tone. The two girls held the others eye and then without warning burst into a fit of giggles. "So who are you?" Rika prompted when she had stopped laughing.

"Hiroshi and Syaoran." Eriol said pointing to the guys in turn; Syaoran frowned noticing that he had on the look he usually wore when he was planning something. Tomoyo also wore a similar look, from the corner of his eye he could see Sakura looking back and fourth between Tomoyo and Eriol looking slightly worried. So she'd picked up on it too.

"Sakura you're going to on my left with Syaoran on your right. Rika you're going to sit on Syaoran's left with Hiroshi on your right. Tomoyo you're going to sit on my right…"

"With Hiroshi on my left." Tomoyo finished for him before kissing him softly on the lips. "I think they get the idea." She said taking her seat, as she sat down she winked at Sakura.

Sakura

She could tell that Tomoyo had planned for her to sit next to Syaoran, it was typical. She had categorically told Tomoyo not to set her up with anyone. It looked like she would have to make the most of it. Tomoyo was busy with Eriol and likewise Rika was busy with Hiroshi. She smiled hesitantly at Syaoran; she knew nothing about him so she had no idea what to talk to him about. She was going to kill Tomoyo for this. The meal had been going okay-ish up to now; desert and she could see the way it was going to go. She was going to be left with Syaoran and she didn't even know him. Wait! Maybe it would be good practise for tomorrow? Syaoran was cute, and who knew if the guy she was going to marry was going to be cute?

Before she could talk to him a strange man had walked over to them and he was looking intently at her. She frowned- who was he? He looked vaguely familiar. "Cher…" He began and then swallowed. "Miss Sakura." He said correcting himself, Sakura caught a glimpse of a panther tattoo on his arm and realised he had been about to call her Cherry Blossom. "Lars has asked me to come and escort you home, he needs to… to discuss tomorrow with you." Frowning Sakura turned her attention back to Syaoran and the rest of the table.

"Please excuse me, but I have to go." She said getting up, she flashed a dazzling smile at Syaoran who blushed crimson. "Thank you for a wonderful evening." She turned to start walking away with the guy.

"Where are you off to?" Rika enquired. Sakura glanced at the guy unsure herself where she was being taken.

"I am taking Miss Sakura home." The guy said.

"Who exactly are you?" Rika demanded her eyes narrowing.

"I am Jamie." He replied. "I…"

"He works for my Uncle." Sakura said interrupting him, telling them all a half lie. Yes Jamie did work for her Uncle, sort of, but not in the way she knew Tomoyo and Rika would be thinking- that he was a servant of some kind. Tomoyo smiled at Jamie.

"It was nice meeting you." She said politely before looking at Sakura. "Are you sure you have to go?" She asked Sakura who nodded. "Call me later?"

"Of course." Sakura replied turning and following after Jamie. "What's going on?" She demanded when they were out of hearing distance.

Syaoran

He frowned watching after Sakura and the guy- Jamie. He could tell that she had been surprised to see the guy, almost as if she hadn't known who he was until she had seen something on his arm- but what? More importantly why was he worried about her, wasn't he going to meet his fiancée tomorrow? He didn't want to lead Sakura on. In the brief time he had known her he knew that if he had a choice Sakura would have been the kind of girl he would want to marry. The problem was he didn't have that choice.

"WHAT!?!!" He heard Sakura yell. He twisted in his seat to locate her; she was nearly at the entrance and Jamie looked more than a little harassed because although she had lowered her tone Syaoran could tell that she was telling the guy exactly what she thought about something. She turned away from Jamie and ignored his shout of "Sakura!" as she headed back towards them looking distinctly furious. With an exasperated sigh Jamie jogged to catch up with her and followed her to the table.

"We have to go, now." She said not bothering with a hello or an explanation. Syaoran raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" He enquired. Sakura turned her intense emerald eyes on him.

"Unless you want to die tonight, then I suggest you do." She glanced over to Tomoyo and Rika. "I'll explain it all later." Then she turned abruptly and headed for the entrance not bothering to check if they were following her. He was surprised to see Tomoyo and Rika get up out of their chairs and follow after her, then Hiroshi run after them. He glanced up to see Eriol looking at him.

"I don't know a lot about Sakura, but Tomoyo says she's very honest. Come on Li, if it comes to it we can protect ourselves." He pointed out. Not bothering to reply Syaoran got up and headed after the girls and Hiroshi, with Eriol at his heels. They caught up with the girls at the reception desk where Sakura was talking to the headwaiter. 

"Can you charge our meal to Amodeus' account?" She asked the guy nodded and the group filled out of the restaurant. The girls shooting curious looks at Sakura, Syaoran had to admit that he was curious as well. Sakura glanced at Jamie who got into a waiting black limousine and followed suit; the others filed in after her.

The limousine pulled away from the curve. No sooner had it pulled away that the restaurant exploded. Rika and Tomoyo screamed. Syaoran looked at Sakura thoughtfully; tears were streaming down her face. "What's wrong?" He enquired. She looked up and held his amber eyes with her emerald pools.

"All those innocent people had to die, for what?" She laughed bitterly and he noticed that she was trembling.

"I think it's best if we drop you guys off soon, Miss Sakura really needs to see her Uncle and it must be a terrible shock to you all." Jamie said turning to face them from the front passenger seat. On one of his arms Syaoran noticed a panther tattoo, seeing where Syaoran was looking Jamie covered his arm and looked at challengingly at Li, daring him to comment. Syaoran refused to take the bait.

"Drop us all of at mine." Tomoyo said firmly. "It'll be easier." Jamie nodded and turned back to the driver.

Authors Note 2: A nasty place to leave it I know but it's 22:58 on Saturday September 13th and it's my 17th birthday tomorrow and I'm absolutely shattered. This is my second attempt at ending this chapter, and I hope that it lives up to the first chapter.

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PrZ Pr1nCeZz 414: I'm glad that you liked the last chapter and I apologise for not updating sooner but I have recently started sixth form college and life is very hectic for me- plus I have lacked inspiration and Syaoran seems to want to fight me *sighs*.

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coriel: I'm glad that you liked it and I'm trying to make the story as original as possible but I do tend to be influenced by writers that I like, whether it's intentional or otherwise.

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RuByMoOn17: Here's an update for you J I hope that you liked this chapter.

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Bloodlust Night: Thanks for the compliments, I'm really glad that you liked the last chapter and I hope that you liked this one.

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omfg: Thanks for the compliment in comparing my story to Little Wolf LOVER's, yeah I am aware that you didn't mean it as a compliment but that's how I see it.

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Early Morning Dawn: Thanks for pointing out that the plot is like Little Wolf LOVER's, but it isn't (I hope *crosses fingers*) it just seems like it. I tend not to have a plot and just let the story go where it wants to and as you'll have noticed with my change of summary there has also been a little change of plot.

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EcuaGirl: Yeah I'll read and review your fics when I next have some free time. Well at the beginning of the chapter you'll have discovered something about whom the real evil person of the story is- which is my plot change and probably came as a surprise to a lot of people. 

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Kjata: It may seem like I have everything planned out well, but trust me it isn't as planned out as it seems as I seem to write better without a plan/ plot to work to.

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Kawaii-CherryWolf: You weren't the only one to notice the similarities but I'm pleased that you could see differences, I did try and make it as original as possible. Here's an update for you and I'm glad that you like my story, it makes me feel all warm inside *smiles*

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tortured soul246: Thanks for your wonderful review but I doubt that I'll get as many reviews as Little Wolf LOVER, she is much more talented than I (or at least that is my opinion). It isn't meant to be a mixture of those stories it's meant to be an original-ish one but here my tendency to be influenced by great writers kinda lets me down *sighs* I hope that you liked this chapter.

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Kitten: Thank you muchly for reviewing Brandy!

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JaMiE LoVeR: I'm delighted that you liked chapter one, I hope chapter two lived up to expectations.

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DracosBabe1989: Merci Beaucoup for you review, it was much appreciated!

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Di: I'm feeling much better thank you and I'm rather excited about my b-day tomoz (It turned out awful L ). As you will already have read I have emailed Little Wolf LOVER and told her that quite a lot of people seem to think that my story is like hers.

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Strawberry-miow: Thanks for reviewing Jen! *claps* I'm glad you liked reading it just as much the second time as the first- and you know how much I love reviews *winks* I would just like to say that I don't have muses I have gremlins- like Kryssy- that aren't at all useful for writing anything that they aren't in *sighs*

A MAMMOTH thank you to everyone kind enough to review, you all made my day. Well I had better finish off this authors note as it is currently 23:29 and I'm practically falling asleep over the computer.

Don't forget to review and tell me what you thought of this chapter! ALL reviews are loved, adored, treasured, welcomed, cherished, revered, worshiped and placed on my review shelf (lol). Bex

(P.S. the word count for this chapter according to MS Word is: 6093)


	3. Secrets revealed, desires unveiled

D'Amour

By Bex Drake

Authors Note: If I created a mailing list to let you know when I update would anyone join? If you're interested in joining please leave your email address in the review. 

Secrets revealed, desires unveiled

Sakura

They travelled in silence; everyone absorbed in their own thoughts until the limousine pulled up outside of Tomoyo's house. Sakura lent forward and whispered something in Jamie's ear, he nodded to whatever it was and she got out of the car with everyone else. They all walked to the front door in silence Tomoyo opened the door and they all walked inside except for Sakura. 

Noticing that Sakura was still standing outside the door Tomoyo went back to her. Up close she could tell just how badly the building blowing up had affected her, the distress was written in her eyes. Tomoyo enveloped her in a hug. "It's not your fault." She whispered. Sakura stiffened hearing this and drew herself out of Tomoyo's grasp.

"But it is." She replied, hanging her head. "If I hadn't have been there…"

"We would all have been dead." Eriol said firmly interrupting her. Sakura looked at him and shook her head.

"No, you wouldn't have been in danger." She said sincerely.

"You don't know that." Syaoran replied sounding slightly bored. "For all you know someone else could have been the target." Sakura smiled wryly.

"True." She murmured in agreement. "But that doesn't explain how come…" She trailed off silently cursing herself.

"How come what?" Tomoyo demanded.

"N…nothing." Sakura said looking away unwilling to meet Tomoyo's gaze. Hearing a gun shot behind her Sakura spun around. Standing directly behind her was a blond haired guy with a gun in his right hand pointing skywards.

"Hello Sakura." He purred, she stiffened she didn't like the calm tone in his voice. It was almost like he had planned for them to meet like this. "Or should I say Cherry Blossom?" He added with a bite in his tone. Sakura reached out behind her and slammed the door shut, shutting Tomoyo and everyone else inside. She didn't want them involved. 

"I don't know anyone by the name of Cherry Blossom," She lied. The guy laughed at her coldly like he could see right through her lie. Sakura heard the door open behind her and cursed, the guy laughed and reached out and grabbed her chin. She froze.

"Oh my God!" She heard Tomoyo whimper but she had eyes only for the blonde haired guy who had positioned her so that his arm was around her neck and his gun was pointed at her right temple. He moved so that they were both standing sideways so that she could see the worry in Tomoyo's face and he could keep an eye on everyone.

"Don't be silly Miss Kinomoto." The guy said tightening his grip around her neck. "I have my sources so I know that you're the Panthers Cherry Blossom."

Jamie

From his position in the car he had a clear view of Sakura and her friends. He could have sworn that he recognised that Syaoran guy from somewhere and then there was the fact that he knew that his tattoo had been recognised, he hoped that hadn't spelt trouble for Sakura. Jamie knew that if he heard the guys surname then he would be able to place him but no-one had mentioned it in his presence, when he was paying attention to what was being said anyway.

He looked up startled when he heard the gun shot, he had been busy fiddling with the radio trying to find a reasonable channel to listen to. He didn't see why Lars had insisted that they collected Sakura in the limousine it was almost like he knew something that they didn't. Together he and the driver got out the car and almost simultaneously located where the gun was. "Oh bugger!" The driver hissed seeing a blonde haired guy point a gun at Cherry Blossom's head. They were too far away to do anything.

Jamie nodded to Dave, the driver, and moved to the right whilst Dave moved to the left. If one of them could get close enough they might stand a chance of doing something. As Jamie crept closer he heard the blonde haired guy called Cherry Blossom by her real name and her code name, that wasn't good. On the guys right shoulder blade he saw the tattoo of a raven which made him part of The Ravens which definitely was not good at all.

Jamie saw the Syaoran guy leave the house and push Tomoyo and Rika into the door, Hiroshi stood by the door preventing them from intervening, Eriol was having a whispered conversation with Syaoran. "I suppose it's only right that I introduce myself." The guy said with mirth. "I'm Omega." He said with a grin tightening his grip on Sakura. Jamie heard Dave trip over something and in one smooth fluid motion he moved the gun from Sakura's head and shot Dave in the chest, killing him instantly, before returning the gun to its original position. "The end." He added, referring to the fact that in the Greek alphabet Alpha is considered the beginning and Omega the end. "I think it's only fair that I introduce you to each other." Omega continued laughing when he saw Sakura shake her head. "Don't worry sweet Cherry Blossom," He purred. "They'll keep your secret."

It was then that Jamie noticed that Sakura was acting extremely well considering the situation. She had yet to break down and cry and it looked like she was trying to work out how to get herself free. "Undo your shirt." Omega commanded. Sakura looked at him with big eyes.

"What?" She whimpered.

"You heard." Omega snarled poking her with the gun to prove a point. With shaking hands Sakura began to unbutton her shirt. Omega looked at Li and grinned. "I suppose it's only fair to warn you that she's a slut like her sister." Sakura continued unbuttoning her shirt but it was clear to Jamie that she would have dearly loved to slap the guy for the comment or say something but she held her tongue. Omega frowned. "My mistress warned me that you were sneaky." He purred as Sakura undid the last shirt button. "Take it off and turn around so that you're facing me." He instructed. It then became clear to Jamie that Omega wanted to show Syaoran and Eriol Sakura's tattoo as if it would hold some meaning to them. He couldn't allow anything to happen to her. As Sakura turned around he stood up. "OMEGA!" He shouted. Omega pointed the gun at his head and fired. The bullet flew through the air and shattered his skull. Jamie knew no more.

Syaoran

Syaoran wondered what exactly was going on when Omega asked Sakura to take off her shirt, he must have had a reason for his request but then did someone who held a gun to someone else's head need a reason for anything? He didn't miss the fear that entered Sakura's eye but there wasn't just fear in her eyes, there was something else. Something akin to pity? But pity for whom? Surely not Omega?

He watched her as she undid the shirt buttons, noticing absently that her black bra highlighted the paleness of her skin. She looked really pretty in a sweet kind of way. She wasn't really his type of girl, although that didn't mean he wouldn't try and get her into bed. Who knew she might not actually be as sweet as she appeared- although he doubted it. Her type of girl always was innocent, more of a child really than a woman.

Sakura turned her tearful emerald eyes on Omega silently begging him not to make her go any further but he smiled cruelly at her and ripped the shirt off of her and threw it on the ground. He grabbed her elbow forcing her to turn around so that she was showing her back, more precisely her tattoo, to Syaoran and Eriol.

Seeing the Black Panther with the golden claws Syaoran cursed. Then he saw the crown above the panther's head and he swore under his breath. That was not good. In the hands of that gun wielding maniac was someone who was high up in the gang he was going to marry into and if he let the girl- Sakura- die he doubted he would be welcomed with open arms. He glanced at Eriol and saw that his best friend and cousin also had seen and understood the meaning of the tattoo. The one question running through Syaoran's head was **why** hadn't he been told that she was a Panther? If he had known he would have been much more… sociable. But it was too late now, and he doubted that the leader of The Panthers would take too kindly to one of his own being held at gunpoint in the presence of a Wolf, although they hadn't officially joined forces yet but still… Syaoran cursed again seeing the triumphant look in Omega's eyes.

"What do you want?" He demanded curtly, looking non too pleased. Omega tightened his grip on Sakura's elbow causing her to wince in pain but she refused to cry out. The guy had already humiliated her and she wasn't going to be willingly humiliated more. Omega chuckled seeing her defiance burning in her eyes. He traced her jaw line using the barrel of the gun and was rewarded by her trembling but that was the only outward sign she gave him that she was scared. Perhaps he had under estimated her, Syaoran mused. Perhaps she was tougher than she looked; after all she had to be to be a member of notorious The Panthers.

"I'm just here to deliver messages." Omega replied with a smirk. "One of them is to you Little Wolf and the other is to Cherry Blossom here." Sakura caught his amber eyes with her tearful emerald ones. It surprised him that although she was scared she wasn't beginning for his help. Instead, he noted, she looked rather thoughtful as if she had heard something and was trying to place exactly where she had heard it. 

"What are these messages?" Sakura inquired softly. There was no sign of fear in her voice Syaoran noted with some surprise. He had expected her voice to betray her like it did with most people, but it hadn't. If he hadn't have known better he would have sworn that they were still sitting in the restaurant rather than standing outside Tomoyo's house with a man with a gun.

He glanced over to Hiroshi, glad that he had managed to keep the other girls inside the house. It gave him one less variable to worry about. Tomoyo and Rika looked sick with fear for their friend but he doubted that they would do anything like try and get to Sakura because of the gun pointed at her head and they didn't want to kill her.

"So you're admitting that you're The Cherry Blossom then?" Omega mocked ignoring her question. Syaoran frowned wondering why Omega was making such a big deal out of the fact that Sakura was Cherry Blossom. Sakura nodded her eyes firmly fixed on the floor.

"Aye, I'm Cherry Blossom." She agreed sadly. "But you didn't need me to tell you that so why are you asking?" Omega chuckled.

"Haven't you guessed?" He mocked. "Little Wolf here certainly hasn't." Syaoran looked from Omega to Sakura, they seemed to be talking about something in code that they expected him to understand. All he could work out was that her name was the key, and it was something to do with The Panthers. "Why don't you tell him?" Omega prompted his grip vice like on her elbow, causing Sakura to bite her lip and draw blood in her defiant attempt not to cry out. Her eyes shot daggers at Omega.

"Do I have a choice?" She demanded looking contemptuous despite her proximity to the gun and the pain that was being inflicted upon her. Omega chuckled and Sakura looked away her eyes burning. "I thought not. Why else was this farce played out? I bet we played right into your hands being in the same place at the same time!" She hissed. Then she took a couple of breaths to calm herself before she turned her emerald pools on Syaoran.

Looking into them Syaoran could detect a great sadness but it didn't seem directed at the situation. Instead the anger, the wry amusement and the pain were directed at the situation. In that moment she almost looked like his opposite and his equal, but there was no one who was his equal Syaoran reminded himself. No one deserved that title because no one was good enough to even come close.

"Allow me to introduce myself, Little Wolf. I am Cherry Blossom of The Panthers." Eriol gasped, understanding hitting him like rain pelting from the sky.

"Oh God!" He mumbled, wondering why he hadn't cottoned on before. Sakura glanced his way and smiled wryly then shrugged before returning her gaze to Syaoran. Syaoran looked at her somewhat confused, he knew that she was Cherry Blossom but the problem was why did he think that he had heard the name before and that the name was somewhat important? 

Sakura

Sakura sighed. She had heard that this Little Wolf guy was supposed to be bright. Was he being purposefully dense or was he just dense? She was really tempted to ask him that, but something told her that that might not be one of her smartest ideas. The real problem was that she didn't want Tomoyo or Rika to overhear who she was, it was best if they didn't know. Although from the way Tomoyo looked at Eriol Sakura had a feeling that it might not be a problem any longer but she didn't want to be the cause of her friends joining a gang, it just wasn't fair. That still left the problem of how to get the message across to Syaoran.

She glanced at Eriol helplessly, but he just shrugged at her. Obviously she could expect no help that way, so she was just going to have to sort this out for herself. The question, though, was how exactly she was planning on doing that. She looked into his amber eyes searching for an answer.

It had come as quite of a shock that he was Little Wolf, the guy she was expected to marry. This guy was nothing more than a player, she had seen the way he had openly flirted with the waitresses and it made her wonder if it would make any difference to him if she had been married to him. She doubted that it would have. Did she want to marry a guy like that? But the problem was that she didn't have a choice. It had been an amusing evening though because she got the impression that he thought that she would be easy to get into bed- big mistake there. She would not have sex with just anyone and right now he was just anyone.

"You are going to meet the girl you are engaged to marry tomorrow, aren't you?" She enquired blandly. She watched with amusement the flicker of surprise in his eyes. Only certain people knew about the meeting and unless she was going to it, it was unlikely that she would have heard about it let alone known when it was. The only people who should know about the meeting was herself, Uncle Lars, Syaoran and his mother. It occurred to after she had said it that, that probably wasn't the best way to say it but hey it had got the message across, she hoped.

Syaoran

He looked at Sakura surprised when she mentioned that she knew that he was soon to be engaged. Only certain people knew that and therefore by elimination it meant that she was the girl he was going to marry- oh boy! His life now looked like it was going to be fun. He hadn't wanted to be married to a 'child' he'd wanted to marry a woman, but then neither he nor she had any choice about the match. It was their duty.

He watched as Sakura returned her attention to Omega, ignoring him and for some reason her ignoring him infuriated him- maybe it's because she's going to be my fiancée he reasoned with himself. He glanced at Eriol and saw that he hand understood the cryptic message as well. He moved back so that he was standing next to Eriol. "Did you have…" He began but Eriol shook his head.

"None." He replied. "I don't think Tomoyo knows, otherwise she would have told me." He continued frowning slightly. "All I know about Sakura is she's Tomoyo's best friend, Tomoyo wasn't very fourth coming with details it was almost like she was trying to protect her." Syaoran nodded thoughtfully. It looked like this naive girl was actually something of an enigma even to her friends.

"There I've told him who I am, now will you let me go?" She demanded. Syaoran and Eriol looked at her startled that hadn't expected her to be so blasé. "Well?" Sakura demanded when Omega made no reply. He smiled cruelly then slapped her, if he hadn't been holding her up she would have fallen to the floor. Tomoyo and Rika cried out in surprise but no sound came from Sakura she was just hanging there holding her cheek. Then very deliberately she stood up and looked him in the eyes defiantly. "Do you think you're the first person to slap me?" She asked calmly. "I have to say my Aunt did a lot worse."

On the side of her face where Omega had hit her, her friends could see a large red hand print that looked rather tender. Omega laughed and caressed her cheek where he had hit her Sakura winced slightly. "Tell him properly who you are." He demanded, it was almost like he knew that she didn't want Tomoyo and Rika to know. She looked at him a couple of seconds almost as if gauging how far she could push him before she would seriously get hurt.

"I am Kinomoto Sakura, niece of Amodeus Lars who is leader of The Panthers." She said formally, then she brushed her hair off of her face and glared at Omega. It was almost like she was completely unaware that she hadn't got a top on, not girl was that self confident- were they? He hoped she wasn't and that it was just adrenaline, which had made her unaware of the cold. He didn't want a wife that would tell him what to do and what she thought of him. In fact he didn't want a wife at all.

Omega caressed Sakura's face again, ignoring the hatred burning in her eyes. Instead his attention was focused on Syaoran. He was interested in how everyone else was reacting. It was like Sakura had woven a spell around all of them, that she had touched them all in some way. It was like…

"She like a shooting star," Tomoyo said from the doorway, almost like she knew Syaoran's thoughts, her eyes were brimful of tears. Before continuing she swallowed. "And that's what scares me. They're their burning brightly one minute, then you look away and then they're gone." She turned her violet eyes onto Syaoran. "Sakura is special to a lot of people and she doesn't even realise it. So you better take care of her Li." She warned. Syaoran frowned but Tomoyo just returned his gaze neutrally almost as if she was daring him to say or do something to give her the excuse to say more.

"I have a present for you Li from my mistress." Omega remarked, ignoring Tomoyo Syaoran returned his attention to Omega. "Not as pretty as the Cherry Blossom but still he's someone special." Omega taunted.

"Who?" Syaoran demanded coldly hoping to distract Omega from Sakura so she could escape. She caught his eyes and shook her head slightly, then smiled secretively. 'What is she up to?' He wondered trying to catch her eye again but she purposefully ignored him. Syaoran was getting rather annoyed with being ignored but there was nothing he could say about it now without drawing attention to her and that might mean she couldn't escape, he couldn't risk that.

"Your little friend, what was his name…?" Omega murmured pretending to think. Syaoran watched as Sakura's hand snaked up to the crocodile clip in her hair and unclasped it letting her pink hair fall in waves over her shoulders. It looked like a perfectly natural thing to do that was if it was your boyfriend who was holding your arm and not some gun-wielding maniac. "Oh I remember!" Omega continued ignoring Sakura. "Kemp Matty, he is a friend of yours right?"

Syaoran looked at Omega trying to gauge if he was bluffing, but he couldn't tell. "Perhaps." He replied carefully. "Why?"

"Mistress said you'd enjoy your present when you see him, he should be dropped off here soon. But until then I'm going to keep little Miss Cherry Blossom with me in case you get ideas." Omega smirked callously.

Sakura

"Excuse me!" Sakura muttered indignantly. "I am here, you know and I would like a say in things." She continued to fiddle with her crocodile clip, doubting her annoyance would affect Omega but the nice, little, demure poisonous dart hidden in the clip might get his attention if she was lucky, but then again he might prefer to die. Whilst she wasn't happy about the thought of killing someone Sakura was not going to sit down and let Omega do as he wished. "Who exactly is your mistress?" She asked pretending to sound interested.

Omega regarded her carefully. "Someone who was a Panther, someone you think you know, someone you trusted." He replied cryptically. Sakura returned his gaze frowning.

"So I know her?" She asked carefully. Omega shook his head.

"You knew her." He replied. Sakura nodded thoughtfully. Who had she known, but not known? Who had she trusted that she shouldn't? Who was this mistress? Something told her that if she thought about it the right way then the answer would be easy- but then aren't all questions when you know the answer?

A black Jaguar with mirrored windows, hiding the occupants from view, pulled up and the door opened and a guy was pushed out onto the street. Omega backed up to the car pulling Sakura with him, who by that time had managed to free the pin from its hiding place in the crocodile clip. With a triumphant smile that confused her friends she stuck the needle into Omega's neck. He cried out in pain and dropped her, realising what he had done he turned and started running to the car. He had only travelled two steps when a bullet from Syaoran's gun embedded itself into his heart. The car's door was slammed shut and it sped away down the street.

Wincing in pain Sakura began to crawl towards the guy, who seemed to be unconscious. As she neared him she could see why he was unconscious his injuries were horrific. She forced herself to stand up and stumble towards him, unaware that everyone was rushing over to them. Omega had hurt her more than she had let on when he had struck her and now that he was gone and the adrenaline was leaving her she was beginning to feel the pain of many bruises. Her legs gave way just as she reached the guy and she ended up sprawled in a heap on the floor.

It wasn't long until Tomoyo and Rika surrounded her and forced her to sit up so that Tomoyo could wrap a blanket around her so she wouldn't freeze. Sakura was scarcely listening to Tomoyo and Rika as they fussed over her trying to find out what was going on she was more interested in what Eriol and Syaoran were doing bending over the guy. "You didn't have to shoot him." She said calmly standing up with Tomoyo's help. Everyone looked at her surprised but Sakura had eyes only for Syaoran. "No they'll have more of a reason to try and kill any Wolves or Panthers that they see." Syaoran opened his mouth to retort indignantly that he had had every right to kill the bastard. "He was dead anyway." Sakura added her emerald eyes troubled. Syaoran raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"What makes you say that?" He asked coldly. Sakura looked away and found that they had an audience, she sighed.

"Well…" She began thoughtfully. "I don't think he should have created such a mess, he was only meant to deliver your friend there and then go. Somehow I doubt his 'mistress' would have been happy that he didn't follow a direct order." Sakura pulled the blanket tightly around her and looked at the floor. "That and he dropped me because I had injected him with cyanide, it was only a matter of time before he would have dropped to the floor dead anyway." 

Syaoran

From the look of pain in her eyes Syaoran knew that she wasn't lying about the cyanide, in some ways she just seemed to innocent to have done such a thing, too innocent to be involved in the battle. He turned back to Eriol who was bending over Matty; Hiroshi had gone to see if Omega really was dead and not just faking it. Matty looked awful, his whole body was covered in bruises and Syaoran doubted that there weren't any broken bones. Matty opened his hazel eyes and blinked taking in the surroundings. He didn't seem to be aware of anyone. "Can we move him, or do we need to go to a hospital?" Syaoran asked Eriol.

"What about Sakura?" Tomoyo demanded. Syaoran turned around to face her his amber eyes unforgiving but she refused to be intimidated. "I might not know what's going on but don't you think…" She trailed off her amethyst eyes wide. "Where is she?!" She asked sounding slightly scared. "Where is she?"

Syaoran cursed. "Stay here and call a doctor and her family." He looked at Eriol purposefully indicating that he wanted his cousin to ring his mother and let her know what was going on. "I'll look for her." He started to walk away.

"Wait!" Rika called. "Don't scare her, she's… she's had enough tough luck in life already. If you hurt her and I don't give a damn who you are and who you know I swear that you will pay for it." Tomoyo moved to stand next to Rika backing her up. Syaoran glared at them and then turned away. He knew that they meant what they said; though Tomoyo would be more of a problem than Rika. The Daidouji family were very powerful and influential- almost more influential than the Li's. He could not afford to anger one. 

**

It took Syaoran longer than he had thought that it would to find Sakura. She was sitting in the shadows of a large oak tree. The only reason he had been able to find her was because he could hear her quiet sobs. "Sakura?" He said gently. Her head sprung up and she looked at him. What he saw broke his heart. Right then she looked like a lost, scared little girl. Her emerald eyes were wide and brimful with tears. He walked over to her and sat down next to her unsure what to say. They sat in silence for a couple of minutes because neither of them could think of anything to say. Sakura lent against him, whether accidentally or not he wasn't sure, he could feel her trembling. So he placed an arm around her shoulder and she lent against him crying. They sat like that in silence as her tears subsided.

"Thank you." She said giving him a wobbly smile as she used the back of her hand to dry her eyes. "It's just I don't see how they could kill all those innocent people just to try and kill us." She continued explaining why she was crying. He had expected her to be crying because of the cyanide she had given Omega, this startled Syaoran. Sakura was obviously tougher than she looked. She drew away from him and started to get up, he felt like she had taken part of him with her. He swallowed and stood up also.

In silence they made their way back to the front of the house where they discovered Lars, Tomoyo and Eriol drinking tea waiting for them. Seeing Lars Sakura smiled and made her way over to her Uncle, whom upon seeing her had put down his cup and started towards her. She hugged her Uncle tightly when she reached him and then burst into tears. Syaoran found himself looking away from the scene though he wasn't sure why- or rather he didn't want to admit why to himself. He was jealous that Sakura had gone to her Uncle for comfort instead of him reasoning that she should have gone to him because he was after all going to be her fiancée as of tomorrow, conveniently forgetting that they had only just met earlier so why should she trust him? He walked over to Tomoyo and Eriol and sat down in a vacant chair ignoring the scene behind him. "What's going on?" He asked Eriol.

Eriol looked at his cousin noticing he didn't look at all happy about Sakura's display of affection towards her Uncle, seeing the amusement in Tomoyo's eyes he knew that she hadn't missed it either. He made a mental note to talk about it with her later. "Aunt Ieran has gone with Matty, Rika and Hiroshi to the hospital. She expects us to turn up there soon." Syaoran rolled his eyes that sounded very like his mother practical at the best of times. "Oh, and she said you should listen to Amodeus and not disobey him." Eriol smirked seeing Syaoran frown knowing his cousin hated to be told what to do. "Amodeus is a nice man." He remarked seeing Tomoyo frown. She had stayed with him hoping that he might actually tell her what was going on, which he had yet to do. He thought that it would be best if Sakura explained who she was and he couldn't really say that he was a member of the Wolves unless he wanted her to join them. Oh he wanted to be with her but he wasn't sure that he should ask her to join a gang, she didn't deserve that kind of life- he could guess what Tomoyo's reply would be if she heard that argument and it went something along the lines of 'It should be my choice to make, Eriol.'

Smiling Sakura and Lars joined them at the table, although Sakura still looked quite sad it was obvious that whatever her Uncle had said to her comforted her. Tomoyo looked at Sakura pointedly, who raised an eyebrow in reply and mouthed 'Haven't you introduced my uncle to Eriol?'

'How could I when I don't really know him?' Tomoyo replied the same way Sakura had asked her. Sakura sighed in exasperation. "Uncle this is Tomoyo, my best friend, Eriol her boyfriend and Syaoran… the Wolves heir." She said gesturing to them in turn. "This is my Uncle Lars." She smiled glad that the introductions were over. The she looked at Tomoyo her emerald eyes sad. "I'm sorry that I involved you in all this?" She said softly.

"In all what?" Tomoyo questioned. "What is going on Sakura?" Tomoyo demanded when Sakura didn't answer. Sakura glanced at Lars wondering what he wanted her to do.

"It's your call Sakura." He replied, Tomoyo raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Do you mind if I tell her?" Sakura asked surprising Syaoran, he hadn't thought that she would bother to ask him. "I'm not going to tell her everything, just what she needs to know." She said, meaning that she wasn't going to tell her best friend that they were going to get engaged so that the Ravens wouldn't destroy them. Tomoyo looked at her with a 'you are going to tell me everything' look but Sakura wasn't looking at her, instead she was looking at Syaoran awaiting his answer. She knew that whilst she didn't need his permission to tell Tomoyo it was only polite to ask him because he was from another gang, a gang she was going to have to name.

"Why not?" Syaoran replied sounding bored. Sakura smiled at him, ignoring the tone and then began to explain to Tomoyo just what was going on.

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Sakura

She was glad that she had finally told Tomoyo everything, it was a weight off of her chest. She looked at the solemn boy sitting next to her in the car as they drove to the hospital. She was glad that Tomoyo had lent her a top. Syaoran didn't seem like the guy whom every girl supposedly lusted after. He seemed out of reach and so very alone. He didn't appear to let anyone in. His amber eyes were so distant. It made Sakura wonder if she would ever love him. To her marriage was a lifetime commitment, divorce was just the cowards way out. It was too easy to divorce. Wasn't marriage supposed to be a contract with God that you would love the other person until you parted in death? When she married Syaoran, as far as she was concerned the contract was for life. It didn't occur to her that Syaoran might not feel the same way.

The drive in the taxicab to the hospital was beautiful because Sakura could see the stars but they travelled in silence. Tomoyo, Eriol and Lars were meeting them at the hospital, they had wanted to talk to Tomoyo's Mom and Syaoran hadn't wanted to wait so Sakura had agreed to go with him. Sakura glanced at Syaoran and licked her lips. "Why didn't you look for Matty?" She asked softly. Syaoran turned to face her his eyes unreadable.

"We didn't know where he was and even if we had we couldn't have risked it." He said coldly. "He isn't a Wolf. If we'd have tried to rescue him I would have been putting other peoples lives in danger when he doesn't mean anything to them, when he isn't one of the pack." He turned away and stared out the window. Sakura nodded thoughtfully.

"I'm sorry." She whispered looking out the window, tears starting to slowly fall down her face. "I know I'm not…" Syaoran looked at her only to discover that her gaze was firmly fixed outside. So close and yet they were so far apart.

"For what?" He asked gently, seeing the glistening of tears on her cheeks. He wanted to reach out and comfort her, something he had never felt the need to do before. The feeling was almost overwhelming. Something in his voice, maybe it was the tone, made her turn away from the window and look at him. Her emerald globes shimmered in the dark, catching the occasional streetlight as they drove by. They sat looking at each other for a couple of minutes then hesitantly Syaoran reached out his hand and brushed the tears from her cheek. As soon as his hand touched her skin it felt like a spark of electricity had passed through them, her emerald eyes widened. "For what?" He prompted patiently, apparently unaware of what he was doing to her.

"For not being stronger, for letting my emotions getting the better of me." She swallowed and liked her lips before continuing almost silently. "For questioning your actions." Sakura knew, from what Lars had told her, that when she became Syaoran's wife never could she question his decision in front of others- to do so would be disrespectful- and whilst she wasn't his wife yet as far as she was concerned it didn't matter. Syaoran's lips twisted into a smile.

"Don't worry about it." He replied. "I don't mind if you disagree with me, sometimes you're allowed to after all and as long as you only say anything when we're either alone or with friends I'm not bothered." Syaoran could not believe he had just said that and seeing her smile at him made him not want to take the words back. For some reason he found himself wanting to get to know her better and he wanting her to like him.

The cab pulled up outside the hospital, Sakura got out the cab and waited patiently whilst Syaoran paid the driver. Sakura wrapped her arms around herself to stop herself from shivering. She knew full well why Tomoyo had given her this top and she was going to murder her friend. The blue top clung to her breasts and stopped just before her bellybutton, revealing an expanse of pale flat stomach. It was perfect for mid-summer when it was warm but for any other time of the year it was too cold to wear it without another top on as well.

Syaoran

Syaoran had just finished paying the driver, whom he swore had over charged them. He turned around stuffing his wallet back into his back pocket. Sakura was standing ahead of him illuminated like an angel by the lights of the hospital. The top she had on couldn't have been keeping her warm because she was shivering, her arms wrapped around her waist trying to keep herself warm. He knew it was Tomoyo's and he was willing to bet that Tomoyo was very like Eriol, that she liked creating situations that could end up romantic. With a sigh Syaoran took off is coat and draped it around Sakura's shoulders. She looked at him startled and he smiled. "We can't have you freezing to death." He said as he guided her into the hospital.

Lars

The three of them sat outside the airport waiting for Li Meiling to appear. It amused him that Tomoyo and Eriol had made sure that Sakura and Syaoran had left for the hospital together and alone. He could have sworn that they were trying to set them up. He wished them the best of luck. If they managed to do it then the merger of the Wolves and Panthers would be a complete success. He knew that he wouldn't be running the Panthers much longer and that his time was coming. He only hoped that he was doing the right thing getting Sakura to marry Syaoran, there was another way of linking the gangs but it wasn't as final. If the two leaders of the gangs were married it meant that there would never be two separate gangs again.

Meiling

The plane journey had been dull to say the least. She couldn't believe that her Aunt had summoned her back Japan for a very important meeting. Oh she knew that the Wolves and the Panthers were joining, she even knew that the Panther was collecting her from the airport. The only thing she didn't know was how they were going to join the gangs.

Seeing the guy she recognised as Amodeus Lars from a photograph and Eriol, with a strange girl, in a black car Meiling got in it. "Hi." She said calmly.

Authors Note: Sorry that it took so long to write, but my life has been hectic recently what with Sixth form and general life. If anyone would kindly be a beta reader for me I'd be most grateful- I ask because I've just realised how complicated the story is and I'd rather I got rid of any mistakes I've made before I stick it up on fanfiction.net.

A huge thanks to:

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friend: I'm glad that you liked the first two chapters ^_^

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EcuaGirl: Yeah Uta is a bitch and she's not stopped being one yet, she has 'plans'. I forgot that Jamie was a character that LWL uses, I just happen to think that it's a really cute name ^_^ (no offence to guys who are called Jamie and don't want to be called 'cute')

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AmericanGirl1114: Yeah the blowing up of the restaurant was a surprise for me (and I'm writing (lol)) Hopefully this chapter was filled with as many surprises! ^_^

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Kawaii-CherryWolf: Well it's not quite Saturday (well it's the early hours) and they're taking it better than I thought they would (it took me two attempts to write this chapter) I'm not sure that everything is as plain sailing as it sees.

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JaMiE LoVeR: Nope, sorry it's not Jamie from "shuzoko" I just happen to like the name Jamie- what's "shuzoko" about?

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tortured soul246: Thanks for taking the time to review. I hope you got your homework done! And I hope that this chapter will give you some time to relax from anymore homework you've got.

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anime_freak: Thanks ^_^

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evergreen: Yeah Uta is a bitch- and she loves it. People have to die because it's a gang war- the fight for dominance. 

All reviews are LOVED, so please take the time to review.


	4. Temptation

D'Amour

By Bex Drake

Temptation

Sakura

She smiled gratefully at Syaoran as he placed the jacket around her shoulders, she really could kill Tomoyo for this but she was angrier with herself for missing the look in Tomoyo's eyes- the look that always told her when her best friend was up to something involving her. She could have kicked herself for being so stupid and falling into the trap, which Tomoyo had carefully set, as she had done millions of times before. Each and every time Sakura had fallen for it, she only realised afterwards what she had done. It infuriated her that Tomoyo knew her so well but, a part of her was amused by the whole thing- only a microscopic part, though she would never tell Tomoyo this. "We can't have you freezing to death." Syaoran said retrieving her from her thoughts, she smiled at him and let him guide her into the warmth of the hospital.

The hospital was eerily quite when they stepped into it. The few times that Sakura had been in it before it had always seemed brim full of people and noisy. There were young children running about, getting under everyone's feet, followed by harassed looking elder siblings who were following the orders of the parents and retrieving said child. There were babies crying, demanding to be fed, as well as injured children or ones who weren't getting enough attention. There was loud music blaring out of peoples Walkman's as they tried to relax and either ignore the pain and/ or wait for a friend. As well as the sound of people talking to one another and of them shifting in the hard chairs. There was none of that now, just deafening silence. Sakura glanced at Syaoran somewhat perturbed, it was like a warning that something wasn't quite right, but Syaoran didn't look bothered in fact it looked like he was used to this eerie silence. Sakura shivered unconsciously, maybe then it was a warning to her that something odd was going to happen, that or Syaoran was ignoring the feeling, which she had to admit to herself, was possible.

They walked in silence, each lost in their own thoughts and neither wanting to disturb the other when they did surface from them thinking that the other was busy. Sakura felt herself unconsciously going back to the very first time that she could remember going into hospital, when she was five… realising where her train of thoughts were leading her she tried vainly to think of something else but she realised she couldn't do it unless she talked to Syaoran. The question was what to talk to him about, what did they have in common? Then it hit her, maybe it wasn't the most appropriate question and maybe he wouldn't answer but it was a starting point. "Did you always know that your family were connected to the Wolves?" She asked softly, watching him for any reaction.

Syaoran stopped walking and turned to look at her, noting absently the child-like look she had in the over sized jacket with the clothes she was wearing underneath. She looked 'lost but she wasn't scared because her parents would find her soon', which, if he had been in to that kind of thing, Syaoran knew he would have found endearing- in fact he did find it endearing and that worried him. Was he loosing it? "Why?" He replied not bothering to answer the question, unless you count answering a question with a question as answering.

Sakura looked away from him, her gaze drifted to the floor and she swallowed. She bit her lip and returned her gaze to his face, her emerald orbs burning with unshed tears. Long ago she had thought that she had stopped crying for Ayame, apparently she never would stop crying for her elder sister who had died before life could get better. "I…" She began her gaze drifting away, if she was going to tell him she didn't want to see the pity in his eyes- she didn't deserve anyone's pity. If she had stayed with her sister then Ayame wouldn't be dead now; it was all her fault that Ayame had been killed. She licked her lips and looked down at the floor. "I was just curious." She said, deciding at the last moment that she didn't want to tell him. She didn't want his pity, it wasn't like he felt anything for her and she… she didn't know how she felt.

Syaoran looked at her doubtfully, he could feel that there was something more to it than that and that she had been about to tell him but something had stopped her. Before she had looked like a lost child, now she looked like a child locked in a glass room longing to escape from it. Her emerald eyes held a sadness within their depths that he hadn't seen or maybe he hadn't noticed it before. Maybe the sadness always had been in the depths of the emerald pools but it had been disguised by her outward appearance of happiness. He of all people should have known that appearances could be deceiving.

Looking into her emerald pools Syaoran could feel the rest of the world begin to slip away, leaving only them behind- not that he was complaining. He reached out his hand to stroke her cheek but she drew away, something akin to longing and sadness flashing through her eyes. She began walking again, leaving Syaoran to wonder what on earth was going on and if he was loosing it. "Sakura?" He called just before she turned the corner and disappeared from sight. She stopped and turned around smiling brightly at him, as she waited for him to catch up.

What Syaoran didn't know that Sakura's own feelings were like a whirlpool or riptide, changing from one moment to the next. When he had reached out towards her she had felt the urge… the need to kiss him because he looked so lost then, yet he hadn't seemed afraid. This yearning had been consumed by a tidal wave of grief as an image of her sister filled her mind so she had pulled away. She never liked going into hospitals; they always bought the memory of that night and the sense of guilt and loss that went with it.

As they rounded the corner together, both intent on their own thoughts and confusions, they came across a small child with large sapphire blue eyes and curly golden locks cascading over her shoulders. She was wearing a large pink T-shirt, white shorts and trainers, leaning against the wall quietly sobbing. Sakura looked at the child and felt immense sadness of the child, so much so that she forgot her own feelings of sadness. Looking at her Syaoran could see that something in her softened as she made her way over to the child and crouched down by it. "Hello." She said gently, so as not to scare the girl who could have been no more than five. The girl looked up and smiled shyly at Sakura, who returned the smile. "I'm Sakura."

"I'm Sky." The girl replied appearing to relax and calm down just by Sakura's presence. "I'm here with Mummy and Daddy to see Ben." Sky explained Sakura nodded in understanding.

"What's wrong with Ben?" She asked gently.

"Mummy said that Ben isn't very well, that's why he isn't at home." Sakura looked at Sky sympathetically.

"Where is your Mummy?" Sakura questioned. Sky's eyes filled with tears.

"I… I don't know." She said tears starting to fall down her face. "I went to get some chocolate and I got lost." Sakura stood up and glanced at Syaoran, who raised an eyebrow questioningly. She smiled at him apologetically before turning back to Sky, to whom she held out her hand. Sky stood up and took it, her sapphire eyes filled with trust. Sakura smiled down at her.

"I'll help you find your Mummy." She said. Sky smiled back brightly, finally someone who looked nice had come along to help her.

"We need to go back to the café." Sky said, "I can find my way from there. I just got lost when a nasty looking man tried to talk to me and I wanted to get away from him." She said with childlike sincerity. Sakura looked at Syaoran questioningly, she had no idea where the café was and hoped that he did.

"Sky this is Syaoran." Sakura said looking at Syaoran, "Syaoran this is Sky. I don't suppose you know where the café is?" She asked her eyes pleading. A smile tugged at his lips as he looked at the scene. The girl was clinging to Sakura like she was scared that if she let go she'd get lost again. He smiled at the girl, who smiled back at him but clung tighter to Sakura. 

"Of course." He replied answering Sakura's question. He walked forward with Sakura and Sky following behind deep in conversation. In a way Syaoran felt excluded, although Sakura was doing her best to try and include him. She seemed to relate easily to Sky, whom he learnt was seven. There was just something about Sakura that the lost seven year old had picked up on that he had missed. Talking to the child Sakura seemed to be shining with a golden light, she seemed more animated and relaxed.

He paused near some lifts waiting for Sakura and Sky to catch up, who were deep in conversation about something. Sky said something causing Sakura to laugh and she looked up and caught his sombre amber eyes with her laughing emerald ones. They caught and held for a couple of minutes, then Sky tugged on Sakura's arm and she looked away blushing returning her attention to the child. In that instant Syaoran thought that he had glimpsed what Sky had seen in her. What he had seen made him think about the girls he had dated, all of whom had been undeniably gorgeous but not one of them had possessed that thing, that light shining brightly in them. He doubted any of them would have gone out of their way to make the child feel at easy, even to the point of ignoring him. In fact he doubted any of them could have ignored him for fear that he might loose interest in them. Sakura on the other hand didn't seem to be going out of her way to 'hook' him; she was just acting like herself and that made her more beautiful than she already was.

When they had caught up Syaoran began walking again only to find that Sakura reached out and grabbed his hand. He looked at her questioningly; she smiled in reply her cheeks faintly pink. Then she lent forward and he thought that she was going to kiss him, the thought excited him, but instead she kissed him gently on the cheek her eyes dancing almost like she knew exactly what she was doing but something told him that she probably wasn't aware. He smiled at her and squeezed her hand; her smile widened then Sky said something and again Sakura turned away. Syaoran frowned; he was starting to find it irritating that Sky kept ruining the moment, Sakura after all was going to be his fiancée and he wanted to have at least kissed her before he got engaged to her.

They were like that, all three in a line holding hands with Sakura in the middle linking everyone together, when they finally reached the café. Syaoran wondered how on earth Sky had managed to do such a fantastic job of getting herself lost, he seriously doubted her story. "Do you want to wait here and I'll take Sky back?" Sakura asked him taking pity on him. She knew from the rumours she had heard that this wasn't his sort of thing. That he would have felt more comfortable in a club where there were no children who could ruin his image. When he just looked at her, she rolled her eyes and leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek stopping next to his ear and whispering "I didn't think you would want to come, you can if you want. Otherwise I'll meet you back here, ok?"

"Okay." He replied when she drew back, she smiled at him and turned to Sky.

"Come on, let's see if we can locate your parents." She said cheerfully allowing Sky to drag her away, just before she rounded a corner and disappeared from his view Sakura waved at him.

Syaoran

He hadn't missed the wistful look in her eyes when she had drawn back after she had kissed his cheek. Perhaps being married to her wouldn't be as bad as he had thought it could be. Maybe he could convince her to sleep with him and have girls on the side that she didn't know about. After all, as the saying goes 'what you don't know doesn't hurt you' and he would make sure that she never found out about the girls.

He glanced at the menu; nothing on it looked at all appealing. It had the same things on it that any other downmarket café would have in it- greasy burgers and fries, hot dogs, sandwiches and so on…, the drinks didn't look much more appealing. There was a choice of coffee, tea, milk and the usual selection of soft drinks. A waitress made her way over to his table. She had long strawberry blonde hair that cascaded down her back, like a golden waterfall, and large bluebell eyes surrounded by dark lashes. Her luxuriant lips were emphasised by the pink carnation lipstick she wore. She stopped directly in front of him and Syaoran found himself looking at her long tanned legs, the top of which were covered by her black mini skirt. Travelling still further up Syaoran noticed she was wearing a tight white shirt, only three of the buttons on it were done up revealing a tanned stomach and a tanned chest, with large looking breasts. The girl smiled at him a wicked grin in her eyes, indicating that she could have guessed where his thoughts were. "What would you like sir?" She purred her voice had a slight American accent to it, biting the end of her pen then licked her lips seductively. On her right bosom was a badge revealing to Syaoran that her name was Freja. He wondered idly if she knew the meaning of her name, that Freja was a Norse Goddess of Love. He doubted it, her parents probably thought that it was a pretty name.

"What do you recommend, Freja?" He asked looking at her in the eyes. She smiled coyly at him tucking her hair behind her ears.

"The cappuccino." She replied. "No where else makes it quite like it is here." She lent forward, allowing him to look down her top, as she whispered confidentially to him. "It's the only vaguely drinkable drink they have here." She straightened her bluebell eyes sparkling. Syaoran wasn't a fool, he knew that it would be relatively easy to get her to sleep with him and then to loose her. She didn't look bright enough to have graduated from high school. All he had to do was give her the right signals and then she would be like putty in his hand. _What about Sakura?_ Part of him demanded. _You know the emerald-eyed girl you came in with. The girl that's soon going to be your fiancée! What's she going to think of you if she sees you flirting with this girl?_ Syaoran ignored the voice and smiled at Freja. He doubted that Sakura would be back for a long time and if she did see them well he could always say that Freja was coming on to him and he didn't want to cause a scene. The girl was too innocent not to believe him; she hadn't seen enough of life to know that he was lying.

"I think I'll take a cappuccino then." He remarked, "Have you got a break soon?" He questioned; Freja smiled at him almost like she had been expecting him to ask that question.

"I'll just get your cappuccino, then I'll take my break." She replied walking towards the serving counter, her hips swaying seductively as she walked. Syaoran knew that she had trained herself to walk like that to attract attention from males. He made a mental note to make sure that he used a condom when he finally had sex with her- it was too risky to do it today- because he wouldn't put it past her to try and make herself fall pregnant and assume that the unfortunate guy would end up marrying her. That and he couldn't afford to create any more scandals, his mother had been less than amused the last time and he got the feeling that if he did anything now last time would seem like a gentle gale rather than the hurricane it was.

Within five minutes Freja was back with two caps of cappuccino. She sat down in the chair opposite him and crossed her legs elegantly. _So she has class_, he mused thoughtfully as he took a sip of the cappuccino and suppressed a shudder. God! That was the worst tasting cappuccino he had ever had the misfortune of drinking. If that was the best drink there was he shuddered to think what anything else tasted like. Freja took a sip of her drink and watched him over the edge of the cup. "So...?" She purred.

Sakura

She let Sky take her down the many corridors of the hospital as they made their way to the children's ward. Sakura learnt that Sky had run away from her parents having overheard them talking about Ben and that they were worried that he might not make it. Sakura had rubbed Sky on the head and told her the truth- she didn't know if Ben was going to die or not but that Sky shouldn't have run away and scared her parents, they had enough to worry about with Ben being so ill but she put it in a way that would be easy for Sky to understand and not upset her.

When they finally reached the children's ward Sakura smiled. On the walls, above the children's beds were pictures of Disney characters smiling. Sky led her past these beds that were mostly full. Some children looked at them curiously; Sakura smiled at them and waved a few of them smiled and waved in return before she disappeared from sight. The corridor they had turned into looked very deserted, it still had the cartoon characters on the walls indicating it was part of the children's ward but to Sakura it seemed more sad. She vaguely remembered it from when she was five, but the decoration had changed since then and was more cheerful but it didn't lessen the depressing mood. If Sky's brother was down here, in one of the private rooms it wasn't a good thing. It meant the doctors didn't think that he would survive and didn't want him interacting with other children and forming attachments with them.

Sky led her into a room where there were lots of machines surrounding a child in a bed. His sapphire blue eyes were open, but they seemed lifeless, his blonde hair was messy from tossing and turning and he looked dwarfed in the bed. Sky tugged at her hand and pulled her closer to the bed. Up close Sakura noticed that his skin was almost deathly pale and that his breathing was shallow. It didn't look at all good. "Ben?" Sky said. The boy's head turned to locate Sky's voice, he smile when he found his sister. "This is my friend Sakura." Sakura smiled at him.

"Hey Ben." She said cheerfully. "I found your sister wondering about, so I thought that I'd take her back to her parents." Ben rolled his eyes and glared at his sister, then winced.

"Thanks." He said, Sakura didn't miss the pain in his voice. "She's been doing it a lot lately, you're the first person that has bought her back." He added. "I guess she doesn't like the hospital, not that I can blame her. I don't like it either it's too cold." Sakura smiled comfortingly at him.

"I don't like it either." She agreed looking around. She caught a glimpse of a clock on the wall. "How come you're still awake and Sky's till here?" She questioned frowning. "Visiting hours must have finished hours ago." It was three o'clock in the morning- no wonder she was feeling tired.

"Sky's staying with Mum in one of the guest rooms and I couldn't sleep." Ben replied glancing at his sister who had fallen asleep on the bed. Sakura followed his gaze and smiled.

"Don't worry, I'll take her to your Mum." She promised, leaning forward and gently stroking the hair off of his face. "Close your eyes and I'll sing you a lullaby." She instructed. "You look like you need your sleep." With trust in his eyes Ben closed them, Sakura wished she could help him he looked like he was in immense pain but all she could offer him was sleep.

"Lullaby and goodnight,

In the sky stars are bright.

Round your head, flowers gay

Sent your slumbers till day.

May you wake when the day

Chases darkness away.

Lullaby and goodnight,

Let angels of light

Spread wings round your bed

And guard you from dread.

Slumber gently and deep

In the dreamland of sleep,

Slumber gently and deep

In the dreamland of sleep." (*)

She sang softly, watching as his breathing evened as he drifted off into sleep. She stood there for a couple of minutes watching his sleeping form as tears silently fell down his cheeks. Something told her that he didn't have long to live. She turned around and came face to face with a blonde haired woman in her early thirties; tears were flooding down the woman's face. "How long have you been standing there?" Sakura asked, knowing instantly that she was Sky and Ben's mother.

The woman stepped forward, brushing away the tears with a handkerchief. "Not long after you arrived, I think." The woman replied. "Thank you for brining Sky back here." Sakura smiled at her.

"There's no need to thank me." She replied. "I couldn't have left her wondering about on her own." She swallowed. "If you don't mind me asking, what's wrong with Ben?" The woman walked over to where Ben lay sleeping and gently stroked his hair.

"He's got cancer." She replied. "It was diagnosed too late for any treatment. Today the doctors told Mark and I that he, our baby, was probably only going to live for a week at most." After saying this the woman broke down, without a word Sakura went over to the woman and hugged her gently. Soon the woman was silently sobbing on her shoulder. It looked like it was going to take longer than she had thought she hoped that Syaoran could amuse himself.

Meiling

She stared at Lars and Eriol in disbelief. They couldn't have said what she had just thought that they had said- could they? Absently she noted that Tomoyo was wearing a similar look to her own, meaning that Eriol's girl was just as surprised. "So what you're saying is that this week Sakura joined your gang and became… sorry, she will become engaged to Syaoran to link the Panthers and the Wolves together?" Tomoyo shook her head. "You've got to be kidding me." She glared at Lars. "Did you ever once consider Sakura's feelings in this? Life hasn't exactly been nice to her recently has it? What with the Ayame incident and all." Meiling looked at Eriol confused, he shrugged apparently he was as confused as she was.

"That was five years ago, Tomoyo." Lars replied with an edge to his voice.

"She still lives with the guilt." Tomoyo hissed. "She may put up a front and seem as happy as she always was but I can still see the grief hidden in her eyes. She blames herself. She thinks she should have stayed with Ayame rather than gone to fetch Nariko." Lars sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

"Tomoyo…" He began. "I didn't want to do it, none of us not Nariko, Fujitaka or I want to do this, but we don't have a choice."

"Kinomoto Fujitaka?" Meiling gasped before she could stop herself, Lars nodded in annoyance. Kinomoto Fujitaka was the most influential single person in the country; he held even more sway than the Li clan did. She wondered if Syaoran knew that Sakura was related to him.

"Fujitaka and I, for years have been trying to find a way to join one another and Sakura provided us with this perfect opportunity, as we are both her Uncles and related to her by blood through her we are linked." Tomoyo glared at him.

"Why couldn't Touya marry into, or join your gang?" Tomoyo demanded. Lars sighed patiently.

"It doesn't work that way. The only way it could work would be if I had a daughter, which I don't. Sakura's my closest living relative now, apart from Uta but I haven't heard from her in years." Lars ran his hand through his hair again tiredly. "Sakura's the only way that we can link that clans and that Fujitaka can join the clan without having to take an initiation test, which we cannot afford to do. We all wish there was another way, but there isn't." He finished frankly.

"What's Sakura like?" Meiling questioned, wondering what the girl that everyone seemed to care about was like. It looked like even Eriol liked her, and that had to say something about her. Eriol and Tomoyo traded a look; it was almost like Eriol was silently telling Tomoyo to answer the question.

"She's my best friend." Tomoyo began, "She's the sweetest person you could ever hope to meet and she seems to be able to get on with everyone…"

Sakura 

Sakura smiled looking at the woman curled around her seven-year-old daughter, both of them were fast asleep. Silently she shut the door and made her way along the hall to Ben's room. She glanced inside and saw that he was asleep. "I hope you get well." She whispered before drawing away and making her way back through the maze of corridors that Sky had led her through, occasionally stopping and asking staff for directions.

When she finally rounded the corner Sakura came across Li and Freja, whom by this time were practically sitting in each others laps. She frowned and crept forward wanting to hear their conversation, trying to find out if it was just that they were good friends. But part of her was telling her not to be a fool that close friends don't sit like that. That they don't look at one another like they want to devour the other. Sakura swallowed and stopped when she was just close enough to hear the conversation.

"So are you going to give me your phone number?" Syaoran asked, as Freja wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

"Of course." She purred breaking the kiss. "When are you going to call me?" She asked.

"Soon." He answered leaning in and kissing her. Sakura's emerald eyes blazed with anger. So Syaoran thought that he could have a piece on the side and she wouldn't know about. She stepped forward and opened her mouth to say something but then a better idea entered her head. Oh she was going to make Syaoran pay for thinking she was a fool, in more ways than one. She giggled as she rounded the corner and disappeared from sight not bothered if anyone heard her or not.

Tomoyo

Tomoyo wasn't totally sure what to make of Li Meiling. She seemed like a nice enough girl but there was also a dangerous edge about her. To top it all of she wasn't sure what to think about all she had learned- that Sakura was in a gang (that just didn't sound like her friend), that she was going to marry Syaoran whom was renowned for his quick succession through the female population. Then there was the fact that Eriol was also a member of a gang, albeit a different one from Sakura, but the thing was he hadn't told her and it made her wonder if and when he was going to tell her if Lars hadn't said anything. She glanced over at Eriol who was talking to Meiling and Lars, something to do with gangs she assumed because it was obvious that they didn't want her to participate on the conversation as they made their way along the pavement to the hospital entrance.

Tomoyo crossed her arms and decided to ignore them, if they were going to ignore her, and think about the new dress she wanted to design for Sakura. Almost as if by accident she glanced into a cab that drove by and stopped dead. The passenger looked like it was Sakura, but it couldn't have been. Sakura was in the hospital waiting for them with her soon to be fiancé Syaoran. "Tomoyo?" Meiling called walking back towards her, leaving the guys to their conversation. "Is anything the matter?" Tomoyo shook her head.

"No." She replied. "I just thought I saw Sakura, I must be imagining things." She shook her head. "I guess it only makes sense considering I was thinking of the new dress I was going to make her."

"You design dresses?" Meiling questioned, surprised that a member of the Daidouji family actually did anything for themselves. Tomoyo's lips quirked, almost as if she had read Meiling's thoughts.

"I design and make them." She replied. "I mainly design them for my friends, it's something to do as I'm not expected to do anything with my life but marry a rich bachelor and have children." Meiling was surprised that Tomoyo's eyes sparkled with amusement, she knew that if she was in Tomoyo's position she wouldn't be taking it so well.

They walked into the hospital and headed to the café, because both Tomoyo and Meiling had wanted to have something to eat, Eriol and Lars were deep in conversation and bringing up the rear as Meiling and Tomoyo talked about Syaoran and Sakura each trying to find out information on the one they didn't know. The rounded the corner still deep in conversation but Tomoyo happened to look up. She stopped dead. "What's wrong?" Meiling asked as Eriol and Lars reached them. Eriol frowned and looked in the direction that his girlfriend was, there was his cousin making out with a blonde haired girl in full view of everyone. From experience he knew how protective of Sakura Tomoyo was and right now he could see murder in her eyes, so he placed a firm hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him questioningly and he shook his head telling her not to do anything foolish.

"Syaoran is living up to his name." Eriol replied, Meiling raised an eyebrow and looked over to where Syaoran was. She grinned mischievously.

"Am I right in guessing that that isn't Sakura?" She questioned, Lars nodded in agreement that blonde was not Sakura. She chuckled and Eriol rolled his eyes.

"He's going to kill you if you do that." Eriol remarked. Tomoyo looked at him questioningly. "You'll see." He whispered wrapping his arms around her, knowing that Meiling wouldn't be put off.

"He has to catch me first." Meiling replied sticking her tongue out at her cousin's back. Then without warning Meiling starting running towards Syaoran. "Syaoran!" She squealed stopping just in front of him and the girl. Syaoran broke the kiss and looked at his cousin. "Don't you two look such a kawaii couple." As if just noticing his discomfort, as Eriol, Tomoyo, and Lars drew closer behind him, she eyed him curiously. "This is Kinomoto Sakura, you're soon to be fiancée- right?" With grim amusement she noticed the shocked look in the girls eyes. Syaoran glared at her, as the girl hastily got up and made her way back to the counter where she worked. Casually Meiling sat in an empty chair.

"Meiling!" Syaoran hissed in annoyance, before noticing Tomoyo, Eriol and Lars had also sat down at the table. Silently he cringed- so much for not getting caught, it looked like the only person who hadn't seen him was Sakura and speaking of her where was she? "Hello." He said in greeting, not missing the amusement in Eriol's eyes letting him know that they had all witnessed him kissing the waitress- wonderful.

"Where's Sakura?" Tomoyo asked, her eyes glinting with… anger? Malice? Annoyance? Or perhaps, distaste she was after all a close friend of Sakura's or rather she deemed Sakura to be a close friend. Syaoran shrugged, and Tomoyo's eyes narrowed.

"She was taking a girl back to her parents." He replied casually. Tomoyo smiled at him, a cold calculating smile.

"I'm sure you could have gone with her." She said cheerfully. "How long ago did she go?" Syaoran didn't miss the frost in her gaze, although he had to admit that it was quite well hidden but then she had probably been trained to act like that. He glanced at his watch and his eyes widened in surprise it was nearly half three and there was no sign of her, she should have been back by now. He was tempted just to get up and start looking for her but the only problem was that he didn't know exactly where Sky had taken her. 

Sakura

Sakura lent back in the taxi; her eyes partially closed as it sped through the streets towards her house. Perhaps I should have told him I was nipping home, she mused, but then again he was 'busy'. She chuckled and a tear crept down her face. From that little show she realised that Syaoran just thought of her as an inconvenience, the phrase '_When the cats away, the mice will play_' sprung into her head and she decided that that described the situation as far as he was concerned. She knew she needed to talk to Nariko and Lars to decide what to do next, because she sure as hell wasn't going to give Syaoran an easy life.

The cab pulled up outside her house and Sakura paid the driver and got out of the cab and walked to her house, well her front door. As she reached the front door it opened revealing her Uncle Fujitaka- when had he got into town? "Sakura?" He said, apparently confused as to why she was there. "What are you doing back here?" She smiled at him and walked past him into the light. "What the heck have you done to your hair?" He demanded as she walked by Nariko heading for the stairs.

"I dyed it." She replied. "I don't suppose you can give me a lift back to the hospital? I need to get changed and wash my hair first." Without waiting for an answer Sakura disappeared up the stairs. Fujitaka and Nariko traded worried looks, the look on Sakura's normally cheerful face when she had entered the house had been a cross between sorrow and anger- both of them knew that this wasn't a good thing.

An hour and a half later Sakura eventually came down the stairs, followed by Nariko who had gong up there to hurry her up. Fujitaka had called Lars to let him know his niece's whereabouts, Lars had found it a huge joke explaining that the heir to the Li clan was at that very moment attempting to explain to Tomoyo just where Sakura was. Sakura stood with her arms folded and her usually full of life eyes were somewhat dampened. She had used thick black eye liner and black mascara to extenuate her emerald pools; her lips were covered in a dark purple lipstick and twisted in a wry smile. Around her neck she wore a studded dog collar. That was only the beginning of her outfit. She wore a black vest top that finished three maybe four inches beneath her bust, which was covered by a thin pink gauze shirt that flared at the arms and finished in the 'right' place much to Fujitaka's relief. She also wore a tight black mini skirt, that Fujitaka was tempted to call a belt, with black fishnet tights and on her feet she worse knee-high four inch black leather boots to complete the ensemble. She smiled at Fujitaka. "Can we go now?" She questioned. Fujitaka opened his mouth to ask her what the hell she was wearing but Nariko shook her head and mouthed 'it's not a good idea to ask' at him. With a defeated sigh Fujitaka nodded, the only good thing was that Sakura's hair was now mainly back to her naturally auburn colour. Fujitaka knew the significance of her outfit, Sakura only wore it when she was annoyed with someone and she wanted to make a point or when she wanted to be someone different. She only tended to dress gothically of a couple of days before getting bored and reverting to her normal clothes.

"Are you going to come?" He asked Nariko but she shook her head.

"I think it would be best if it was just family there." She replied.

"Nariko, you are family." Sakura said smiling at her. "You may not be blood but you were the one to bring me up. You were the one there when Ayame died. You have always been there for me. So, will you please come one more time?" Nariko hugged her.

"Seeing as you asked so nicely, I don't see why not." She replied.

Authors Note: Well this is a longer chapter than I planned, and I didn't get through some of the stuff I wanted to- like I wanted it to finally be the next day but that looks like it will be next chapter *sighs* I thought that here was a good place to leave it so that you didn't have too many words to read- I could have kept going for another 6k but I thought I might end up going OT. 

(*) The lullaby that Sakura sings, is actually one of my favourite lullabies. It's called "Brahm's Lullaby" after the guy who composed the music, I believe. I thought… think that it was a very fitting lullaby.

A huge thank you to everyone who took the time to read the last chapter- I have 37 reviews, the most I have ever got on a fanfic so thankies!!!

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JaMiE LoVeR: Thankies for the review and the description of Jamie, he sounds very hot!

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strawberry_miow: hey jen, yep it sounds like you're going all continental- that's my job! (jk). Well I got another chappie out, quicker than it could have been as well. Noo!! There's no need to send me to THAT hell dimension, I'll be good *nods*

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Sakurapetalsntears: I'm glad you like the tale so far! n.n

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tortured soul246: Isn't everyone a bit thick to begin with when they 'fall' in love? Syaoran didn't know what his fiancée looked like, at the restaurant was the first time he had seen Sakura so it was probably a bit of a shock for him to discover she was his fiancée. Eriol and Tomoyo's plans will be revealed in later chapters *smiles evilly*

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ChibiKit: I'm glad that you liked it, and the majority of people have commented on its similarities to LWL's fics which wasn't my intention because I really like her fics and I have no intention of trying to copy them.

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Salor Earth: Thankies! 

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RuByMoOn17: Thankies!!

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EcuaGirl: I think the Sakura/ Syaoran situation is amusing neither of them want to admit their feelings even to themselves.

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AmericanGirl1114: I have to say that Lar's chickened out of telling Meiling, and left it to Eriol. I left the scene out of this chapter because I want to use it as a flash back in a later chappie so you've still got it to look forward to!

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Kawaii-CherryWolf: *laughs* There will be more S+S in later chapters, there should be some in the next chapter I was planning to put some in this chapter but with the whole Freja thing I didn't think it would work. So I'm afraid you'll have to wait a bit longer for some! *looks apologetic*

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gamegirl546: Yeah S+S is a really kawaii coupling!

I just wanted to wish everyone a HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!! Or SAMHAIN, if you're pagan/wiccan. Sorry that there hasn't been any real S+S yet, there should be SOME in the next chapter! Please don't forget to review, even if it's just a quick 'good chappie'. All reviews and comments are adored, treasured, loved, kept, and replied to. Bex

Word Count (according to MS Word): 6869 - wow O.O; the most words I have written in a chappie!!


	5. This Kitten has CLAWS

D'Amour

By Bex Drake

This Kitten has CLAWS

Sakura

She sat in the back of her Uncles limousine between Nariko and Fujitaka as it sped through the streets, which were starting to wake up to the new day. The sun was peering cheerfully out from behind the clouds and warming anything and everything that it had landed on. It was now seven o'clock in the morning and people were starting to wake up to get ready for work. The journey so far had taken longer than it should have because Sakura had left several items back at home and they had had to go back and retrieve them. If she was being honest with herself Sakura knew that she had left them there on purpose to avoid meeting Syaoran again. If the trip to the hospital had taught her one thing it was that she was never to trust Syaoran.

The limo pulled up outside the hospital and they all exited the car. Taking the lead Sakura led them through the hospital to the main reception desk so that they could find out what ward Syaoran's friend was on. Fujitaka went forward to the desk and had a quite word with the duty nurse. The end result was that she led them through the hospital to the ward where Kemp Matty was. It still amazed Sakura that Fujitaka managed to get people to do what he wanted them to, she didn't seem to realise how powerful and influential her uncle was and even if she had she wouldn't have cared.

As they rounded the corner to the private room where Matty lay Sakura could hear hushed raised voices. As they neared the room she identified them as that of Tomoyo, Eriol, Syaoran and a strange girl. They seemed to be arguing about her. Absently she wondered if they had caught Syaoran kissing the girl in the café, if they had then she felt sorry for him. "Do you really think that she's that thick?" She heard Tomoyo demand. Fujitaka raised an eyebrow at the amused grin on Sakura's face she shrugged.

They walked into the room before Syaoran had a chance to answer; Sakura turned to look at him. "Are you going to answer Tomoyo's question?" She challenged her voice bland. She scowled when she realised that he was checking her out and then smiled before turning around and ignoring him. Perhaps this would be the perfect way to get back at him for the café incident. "Hey!" She said to Tomoyo and Eriol with a grin, her eyes flicked to the dark haired girl next to them.

"Sakura this is mine and Syaoran's cousin, Li Meiling." Eriol said gesturing to the dark haired girl. Examining her closely Sakura could see a vague family resemblance between them. "Meiling, this is Kinomoto Sakura the niece of Kinomoto Fujitaka and Lars."

"Please to meet you Kinomoto." Meiling said examining the girl who was going to marry her headstrong cousin.

"Call me Sakura." Sakura instructed with a grin, Meiling smiled.

"And me Meiling." She replied.

"Why the hell are you wearing… that?!" Tomoyo demanded her violet eyes flashing, as she regarded Sakura closely. Sakura looked at Tomoyo calmly, a smile tugging at her lips.

"Because…" She began, her eyes flicked to Syaoran. "I felt like it." Tomoyo rolled her eyes and giggled as it dawned on her that Sakura had seen what Syaoran had been up to earlier and that this was her way to extract revenge because she guessed that it would drive Syaoran up the wall only being able to look and not touch. She had to hand it to Sakura that was a brilliant way to extract revenge.

Meiling looked back and fourth between them, they seemed to be having a silent conversation. It was also interesting that Sakura didn't normally dress like that. She was curious to know why she was dressed in a gothic style and what Sakura's normal style of clothes were.

While this was going on Fujitaka and Nariko had made their way over to Lars and Ieran and began talking to them, well Fujitaka did Nariko felt out of place and was standing there wishing that she hadn't let Sakura talk her into coming. "Sakura?" Lars commanded when the grownups had finished their little discussion. He noticed with amusement that Syaoran was not used to being ignored, which was what Sakura was doing to him. He had to congratulate his niece on her idea, he doubted that Sakura would have missed the little display earlier and her current attire just proved his theory right.

Sakura turned around to face him, an angelic smile on her face. "Yes Uncle?" She questioned. Lars bit back a laugh noticing the scowl on Syaoran's face.

"I'd like to introduce you to Syaoran's mother Li Ieran." He said, Sakura bowed respectfully to the grand looking lady who seemed to carry an aura of power around with her. Like a nervous child Sakura held her hands in front of her and fixed Lars with her large pools of emeralds, a woeful look written on her face. Nariko smiled slightly used to Sakura's little ploys to get what she wanted.

"Uncle Lars?" Sakura began, "Do you mind if we go and get something to eat?" She questioned. Lars shrugged.

"If you must." He replied. Sakura grinned and kissed him on the cheek. She turned around to face Meiling, Tomoyo, Eriol and Syaoran her emerald orbs sparkling like two giant crystals in sunlight. Fujitaka coughed pointedly, Sakura turned around smiling brightly.

"Yes Uncle Fujitaka?" She enquired.

"Don't forget you have to be somewhere tonight," He looked at her pointedly, she lowered her gaze to the floor. She remembered visibly what had happened the last time she had disobeyed Fujitaka and she did not want to repeat the experience. "Don't be late." She nodded and then seeing he had no more to say she turned back to face her friends.

"Well?" She questioned. Tomoyo smiled,

"I'm up to it." She replied.

"So am I!" Meiling agreed. Eriol nodded in agreement, he was going to go just because Tomoyo wanted to. Sakura turned to face Syaoran who she had so far ignored, he was wearing a scowl on his face. She shook her head. How did he become the most eligible bachelor when he went around with a face like that? She wondered. 

"You coming?" She questioned.

"He is." Li Ieran answered for her son; her eyes fixed on his. He was the one who finally broke the contact looking away and nodding. Ieran smiled. "Be good." She instructed with a smile. Syaoran glared at her.

With a smile tugging at her lips Sakura left the room followed by the others.

Zack

Zack stood outside the dark royal blue door patiently. It was typical of Chad to take so long to answer the bloody door. He always seemed to be attempting to do more than one thing at once, one of the things he always tried to do was undoubtedly illegal either in the city or in the Ravens which was why he took so damn long to answer the door. Zack battered on the door again, a slight scowl starting to appear on his handsome face. At this rate Chad was going to get his sorry arse kicked and kicked good.

It was lucky for Chad that he had had to come and not Uta because whatever Zack did to him, Uta would have done it ten times worse. Finally a drowsy looking Chad answered the door and Zack pushed past him and waltzed into the house. Zack and Chad had used to be best friends but since Uta had taken over the Ravens their paths had split. Zack believing that she had taken over the gang fairly whilst Chad had the sneaking suspicion that somehow she had cheated. Of the two it was Zack who dominated; Chad never dared question Zack and therefore never Uta. If Zack had told him to jump off of a bridge he would have.

Zack waltzed into the living room and sat down in one of the couches and waited patiently for Chad to catch up. "What some breakfast?" Chad questioned stifling a yawn. Zack nodded.

"I might as well. I've been up all night." He explained. Chad looked at Zack suspiciously.

"I take it then this is a business visit rather than pleasure?" He asked Zack nodded in agreement. "What's happened to you Zack?" Chad demanded. "You only visit me now if you want something." Within the blink of an eye Chad found himself pinned up against the wall with Zack's had around his throat, he froze.

"Are you questioning me?" Zack demanded his blue eyes flashing. Chad looked pointedly at the ground.

"No." He murmured. Zack released some of the pressure on Chad's throat and with his free hand he tipped Chad's face up so that Chad was forced to look into his eyes. "No, I'm not questioning you." Chad said quietly, almost whisper like. Zack smiled and licked his lips, slowly he leant in and kissed Chad who at first contact stiffened beneath him and then he relaxed kissing him back.

Zack drew back slowly, slightly out of breath and looked into Chad's dazed eyes. He had to admit that Uta's technique of seducing people worked a charm, you could ninety-nine percent of the time get people to do exactly what you waned them to. He tenderly stroked Chad's cheek. "You went out with Kinomoto Sakura, right?" He questioned.

"Yes." Chad replied, knowing from past experience that there was no point in asking why. If Zack wanted him to know he would get round to the point in his own time.

"Apparently she's getting engaged to the Li heir- Syaoran I think it is…" Chad's eyes widened.

"The player?" He murmured disbelievingly. "That doesn't sound like Sakura. I can't see her marrying someone like him of her own free will, she's too… too innocent." Zack pretended to nod thoughtfully.

"That's what Uta thought. She thinks that her brother may have something to do with this. All she wants you to do is find out if her suspicions are real."

"How am I meant to do that?" Zack smirked.

"That's all be taken care of, just turn up to work early."

Uta

Uta frowned at the man on the other side of the glass screen. The guy whom she had thought that she had loved. Chase. Prison had changed him. He seemed more cautious than he was before and she knew when he came out he was going straight. Her eyes flashed in annoyance. She could have done without her beau gaining a conscience. It was just typical and she was sure it had something to do with her dratted niece Sakura! If the little bitch hadn't discovered him with the dead body of her sister she was sure that Chase would have remained the man she had fallen in love with.

"Hello Uta." Chase said, politely. Gone was the passion from his voice, and the warmth in his eyes. Gone was the love that they had once shared and it was all down to her. Well she was going to pay. If Uta couldn't have the life she wanted then Sakura wouldn't have a life.

"Chase." She replied. "I came to say goodbye."

"I wondered when you'd do that." He murmured not sounding not the least bit disappointed or sad. Uta stood up and lent forward pressing her lips against the glass her eyes glistening with unshed tears.

"Goodbye Chase." She said and turned to leave.

Syaoran

They stood outside the hospital. He had to admit that Sakura looked amazing, she was dressed in a similar way to the kind of girls he normally went for. Absently he wondered on her choice of dress, from what he had heard about the innocent Cherry Blossom there was no way she would wear the kind of clothing she was wearing now. It made him wonder if she had seen him earlier with… Freja? If she had, then she wasn't acting the way he would have thought that she would. He'd have thought that she would have acted like many of his 'girlfriends'- got jealous and tried to hurt the other girl. Perhaps, she was smarter than he thought.

"Where are we going to go?" Tomoyo asked calmly. "I doubt anywhere is open at this time." Sakura smiled.

"I know of a place, but…" She trailed off and her eyes flickered towards him and she bit her lip. "It's not entirely appropriate. Nariko doesn't approve of me going there and it's where I met Chad. It does a great breakfast." Tomoyo's eyes narrowed,

"You cannot be serious Sakura! That's like walking into the lion's den!" Sakura shrugged.

"Where?" Meiling asked, curious as to what they were talking about.

"The Nest-Egg" Tomoyo replied distastefully. Meiling raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"It is one of the Ravens headquarters," Sakura supplied sounding bored. "It's apparently a place the Raven frequently goes to. I've never seen her there."

"You got in there without being a Raven?" Eriol questioned looking thoughtful. Sakura nodded, she had got in without being a Raven.

"Only because of whom she was…"

"Dating." Sakura finished for Tomoyo, knowing without a doubt that Tomoyo would have said fucking which she didn't think was anyone's business if she had or hadn't slept with Chad. "I would like to point out that I didn't know about the Ravens, Panthers and Wolves at the time; I was just an innocent little…"

"…virgin" Tomoyo murmured, a wry smile tugging at her lips.

"…girl." Sakura finished glaring at Tomoyo as if she had heard what her best friend had murmured even though Tomoyo had said it too quietly for Sakura to hear. Tomoyo smiled at Sakura innocently. "So are you guys coming, or are you too chicken?" She questioned a playful smile gracing her mouth.

"Count me in!" Meiling said, Syaoran sighed. His cousin enjoyed a challenge and he knew that she had always been interested in how another gang was run.

"Not me!" Tomoyo said glancing at her watch. "I have to go home."

"I'll take you back." Eriol said, Tomoyo linked arms with him and they started walking away to the taxi stand. Tomoyo waved as she got in the taxi. Sakura had known that Tomoyo wouldn't want to come which was precisely why she had chosen The Nest-Egg. She didn't want her best friend involved in things that were dangerous.

"You coming cousin?" Meiling questioned a smirk on her face. "I wouldn't have thought you'd have been a chicken." Syaoran glared.

"Of course I'm coming." He snapped his amber eyes narrowing. "I wouldn't want to leave you girls unprotected." Both Sakura and Meiling narrowed their eyes and glanced at the other. Meiling rolled her eyes and Sakura smiled. It looked like they were going to get along, just fine.

It didn't quite look like that on the Syaoran and Sakura front.

Tomoyo

She shook her head as the cab pulled away from the stand. Eriol looked at her questioningly. "The Nest-Egg does an okay breakfast." She explained, "But Sakura didn't want me involved in whatever she's planning." She sighed.

"What do you think she's up to?" Eriol asked. Tomoyo smiled.

"I'm 99.999% sure that she saw what we saw- Syaoran kissing another girl. The outfit she was wearing? She only wears it when she's in a really bad mood, when she's soo pissed off with someone she isn't sure what to do."

"Why not say anything to her?"

"They're not even officially going out, so what grounds has she got to say anything?"

"True." Eriol replied frowning slightly. "I take it you still think that they'd be a perfect couple?" Tomoyo smiled.

"I think they already are." She remarked. "She won't let him get away with murder and she'll tell him exactly what she thinks. Syaoran might not realise it, but he needs a girl who isn't afraid to tell him no and stand up to him." Eriol smirked,

"Exactly what I was thinking, my love." He said then leaned in and kissed her.

Sakura

They stood outside The Nest-Egg and it looked exactly how she remembered it; a bit of a tip on the outside, not the kind of place anyone with any taste would want to been seen in. The CCTV units were as obvious as always, or maybe it was because she was getting more used to spotting them. She could almost feel the trepidation coming from Meiling and Syaoran, abruptly she stopped walking and turned to face them. "It's perfectly safe here, if it wasn't I wouldn't be here." She told them bluntly. Meiling grinned recklessly, whilst Syaoran raised an eyebrow clearly not totally believing her. She rolled her eyes and walked to the entrance of The Nest-Egg, opened the door and walked inside followed by Meiling and Syaoran who looked like he wanted to kill her.

Inside The Nest-Egg was pretty much as she remembered it, although a few tables had been moved around to create space for a couple of arcade games, the eighties pop music still blared out of the duke box and the walls still had posters plastered on them of the latest films. All in all, it looked like time had passed the place by leaving it untouched. The same old regulars were in; she smiled and waved at those she recognised.

In a group they walked to the counter, Sakura in the lead and Mailing and Syaoran behind both of who were looking around wearily. At the counter stood Chad. Sakura muttered a curse under her breath she had only suggested The Nest-Egg in the first place because she knew that it wasn't Chad's shift till midday. The fact that he was there was very… dangerous because she knew that he was bound to either make a move or say something and she wasn't totally sure how Meiling and Syaoran would react. She prayed that no one would cause a scene as they approached the counter. "Sakura!" Chad exclaimed cheerfully as if he had just seen her. She smiled brightly at him.

"Hey Chad!" She replied, her tone cheerful giving away none of her feelings. "Can we have three breakfast's to go, please?" She questioned.

"Sure, you can have them on the house." Chad replied Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"To what do I owe that honour?" She questioned easily. Chad smiled at her lazily ignoring Meiling and Syaoran who were both watching the scene unfold with interest.

"Oh, I just want some information. You see there's an interesting rumour going around about you…"

"Really?" Sakura questioned, guessing it probably had something to do with Syaoran.

"Apparently you're getting engaged to that jumped up Li heir, Syaoran? I'd have thought better of you Sakura seeing as you're a Raven, getting mixed up with someone like that. It looks like Raven was right you've become more of a slut…" Chad didn't get any further because Sakura had slapped him and had her gun pointed at his head, a cold smile hung to her lips.

"Keep your nose out of my business Chad." She warned. "We finished a long time ago and as I recall that was your choice. Just because we went out does not give you the right to say any of that." Casually she flipped the safety catch off. "And just for the record I'm not a Raven, never have and never will be."

One of the regular guys stood up bringing his gun out of his pocket and pointing it towards her, with a nod of agreement both Meiling and Syaoran drew their guns. Having arrived at the place both of them had been reluctant to enter. Syaoran's eyes were flashing with anger as he heard Chad's description of him. "Sakura, we've got company." Syaoran murmured out of the corner of his mouth. With her gun still aimed at Chad's head Sakura turned around to survey the room, bringing out another of her guns and aiming it at the guy who was aiming at her.

She frowned seeing Chad casually try and study Syaoran and Meiling's guns, curiously she glanced towards them and noticed the obvious Wolf insignia on them, and not just any insignia but that of a Leader in the case of Syaoran and a Second in the case of Meiling. Her own guns were pretty plain as she had asked for them to be that way so she couldn't be identified until she was officially engaged to Syaoran. "Put your guns away!" She hissed her emerald eyes flashing in annoyance, apparently the gossip she had picked up here was correct- the Wolves were flashy, but that figure considering that Syaoran the player was a leader. Meiling started to put her gun away but Sakura could see that Syaoran wasn't going to do that and she couldn't really afford to say his name he was too well known, nor could she afford to lower one of her guns. She looked at Meiling. "Get your cousin to lower his goddamn gun!" She murmured barely moving her lips; she fixed her eyes on Chad.

After a couple of minutes she sighed realising that Meiling was getting no where with Syaoran, with a sigh she handed one of her guns to Meiling (the one that was pointed at the guy who had his gun aimed at her) and moved so she could have a whispered conversation with Syaoran whilst still keeping the gun on Chad. "Will you please put your gun away!" She whispered into his ear, emphasising the please. "Because your gun kinda advertises which gang you belong to." He turned his intense amber eyes on her.

"I don't like people pulling guns on me." He retorted, without looking at her. She sighed and lowered her gun and put it away her emerald eyes blazing with anger. 

"Will you put your goddamn gun away!" She hissed.

"No." He replied coldly. Meiling looked back and fourth between Sakura and Syaoran a smile tugging at her lips. It looked like Ieran had found the perfect match for her son, someone who wouldn't back down and be intimidated.

"You have quite a reputation." She murmured. He shrugged, perhaps he did. "What makes you say I'm going out with Li?" She asked Chad, "Because I can honestly tell you at this moment in time I am not dating him." Syaoran smirked, amused at her reply as he grudgingly lowered his gun. Whilst it was true that they weren't going out now, in a couple of hours time it wouldn't be true. It proved one thing, she had guts. He noticed the wry smile tugging at her lips and the way her emerald eyes sparkled with amusement. In that moment she looked truly timeless, like a female gang leader of old who had no worries and no cares.

From behind the counter Chad didn't miss the way the guy was looking at Sakura, the feeling of sparks that seemed to flash between them and the way she was protecting him. It appeared that she had learnt a lot since he had last seen her- why hadn't Zack warned him she was dangerous? The sweet innocent Sakura he had known was gone and in her place stood a fierce vixen, ready to fight to protect the people she loved. "People change." Sakura remarked almost as if she could read his thoughts, Chad had to remind himself that they had been together so long they could guess each others thoughts but he was unable to do that anymore. She had changed, evolved too much.

The boy looked… familiar but he couldn't quite place the face. It didn't help that neither Sakura or the other girl- Meiling?- refused to say his name. Wait! Meiling, wasn't she a member of the Li clan? Her bristling at the way he had described the Syaoran guy certainly indicated that she was. The guy was her cousin, so there were only two possibilities Hiiragizawa Eriol or Li Syaoran and the guy standing in front of him was definitely not Hiiragizawa. He wasn't… classy enough to be Hiiragizawa that meant he must be "Li." He said abruptly, he regarded Sakura coldly. "You shouldn't have bought trash like him here." The other members of the Ravens regarded Syaoran coldly, so that was the famous Li. "Go away Little Wolf, you're kind doesn't belong here. We're not 'good' enough for you. I'm surprised you even looked at Sakura, she doesn't seem quite your style but then seeing this slut who's pretending she's Sakura…" Chad didn't get any further because he had two bullets lodged in his brain. One had come from Sakura's gun and the other from Syaoran's.

Sakura looked at the Raven's coldly. "Has anyone else got any comments about my moral state? I just came here for some breakfast," She headed for the door. "I don't think I'll come here again the service is lousy." She walked out the door. Meiling and Syaoran exchanged bemused looks, Syaoran was amused by her parting comment and Meiling was entertained by the fact that Syaoran had shot Chad for his attack on Sakura's moral state. Perhaps her cousin did feel something for Sakura. If he did then that was a good thing, because she liked Sakura the first 'girl' of his that actually had some personality.

Together they walked out of the café to find Sakura leaning up against the wall tears falling down her face. Seeing them she wiped them away and smiled cheerfully at them. "Come on lets get out of here before the leader realises that Chad is dead." Abruptly she turned away and started walking down the street, Meiling looked at Syaoran and then looked around for somewhere where she could disappear so that they could have a talk.

"Sakura, wait!" She called spotting somewhere useful. "I er… I need to get some ingredients for a cake." She said when they'd caught up with Sakura, ignoring the look that Syaoran was giving her. "Why don't you and Syaoran wait here whilst I rush into the shop? Thanks." She said not waiting for an answer, but crossing the road and heading into the shop.

"Do I detect an ulterior motive?" Sakura murmured thoughtfully. Syaoran was impressed; she had just met his cousin yet it was almost like she had known her for a long time because of her ability. Sakura sat down on a nearby bench her emerald eyes oddly thoughtful, Syaoran sat down next to her for a lack of a better thing to do. "What do you know of White Chad?" She asked abruptly, he didn't miss how watery her eyes looked; it was almost like she was about to cry it was pure instinct that made him place an arm around her. At first she stiffened and then she relaxed and leant into him slightly. It felt right having her there.

He mused over her question, thinking about what he had heard about the guy. "He was the most ruthless guy in the Raven's until about six years ago when he meet a twelve year old girl, then he went 'soft'. Four years later he breaks up with her and comes out gay." Sakura nodded her eyes clouded with an unreadable emotion. "After that he seems to disappear from the scene and Lin Zachary took over…" He paused noticing the disgusted look on Sakura's face. "Sakura?"

She sighed. "You know I went out with Chad? Well he told you anyway, that guy in there that we shot was White Chad the untouchable." She smiled bitterly. "But all that changed when he came across a twelve year old girl, who had been left in the custody of an Aunt whose boyfriend had killed her sister, whose Aunt had left her in Raven territory in the hope that she would be killed for trespassing." She smiled sardonically. "She was lucky that he happened to be passing, anyone else and she'd have been killed without a second glance. So it was by pity that they first met. He took her to the edge of the territory and told her she shouldn't come back again. The girl replied that she hadn't wanted to come in the first place but her Aunt had made her and told her to wait. He asked her the name of the Aunt and she replied, he looked thoughtful and told her to wait in the park across the street whilst he did something then he would take her home." Sakura swallowed her eyes swimming with tears, even in the frank tone she had been talking in didn't make the tale any easier to tell. Syaoran held her tightly it didn't sound like she had had an easy life so far, this was the first time he had heard anyone mention that she had used to have a sister.

She drew away slightly tears still falling down her face, "I never was a member of the Raven's, they accepted me because of what I was to Chad and I killed him. The first guy, outside the family, I ever learnt to trust and I killed him." She shook her head in disbelief. Syaoran swallowed, he hated dealing with crying girls but Sakura… well she seemed different. She seemed oddly strong in her moment of pain and she was talking to him, a guy she scarcely knew about her past. He wondered if she would have told him, if he hadn't been there when the Chad guy was killed and it worried him slightly that he didn't want the answer to be no. Was he starting to have feelings for her? He couldn't. He was only going to marry her out of duty.

He pulled her to him, and gently stroked her hair as she cried softly into his shoulder. When she calmed down he kissed her on top of her head before letting her draw away. She sat with her head resting on his chest and her right arm draped across his stomach. He had his right arm draped casually along her hips. None of his girlfriends would have sat with him like that, unless they had wanted something, and when they had sat like that he had to admit to himself that it didn't feel as right as it did now with Sakura lounging against him. "Why did you tell me that?" He asked softly. He could feel her shrug in response.

"I don't know." She replied softly, "Something told me I could trust you, despite what your earlier actions portrayed." She lifted her head to look at him her emerald orbs sad, and he got the feeling that the sadness wasn't just to do with the death of White Chad, that the sadness was something to do with… betrayal? She licked her lips unsure what to say she swallowed and looked away. "The blonde American sounding girl with a foreign sounding name like erm… Freja? Or something like that." She shrugged indicating that she didn't really know. "That you were making out with whilst I took Sky to her mother." She said bluntly, her eyes flashing with something akin to anger. "Do you know who she really is?"

Syaoran cringed. So Tomoyo had been right and she had seen him with Freja- damnit! But why hadn't she said anything to her Uncles or his Mother? He shook his head, half expecting her to draw away in disgust because he had basically admitted that he had been making out with the girl. He looked at Sakura about to answer in the negative, he didn't know who the girl really was, only to find her looking amused. "Sorry," She said before he could glare at her or make any comment. "But I didn't tell anyone because right now what business is it of mine if you have sex with the Queen of England we're not going out." She laughed; his face had been a picture when she had used her analogy. "But from the moment we're officially an item, let me warn you if you cheat on me there will be hell to pay." She smiled at him sweetly, her smile had a disarming effect because it didn't look at all like she had just threatened him or she would have even thought about doing something so underhand.

Syaoran searched her eyes with his; she seemed to know more than she let on. In fact, he was beginning to wonder if she was as innocent as she first seemed. She moved so that their faces were just inches apart. "Well do you?" She breathed, apparently unaware of their close proximity.

He smiled at her seductively and stroked her cheek, brushing her hair gently off of her face. Passers by smiled at the young couple on the bench, they looked like they were made for each other and were very much in love. He lent forward and their lips met in a gentle kiss. He drew back and searched her eyes, for the first time unsure about kissing a girl. Then he leant forward again and kissed her, this time more passionately. Gently, almost timidly, he began searching her mouth with his tongue.

Meiling

Looking out of the window of the shop she smiled at the couple kissing on the bench. A couple of hours earlier she doubted that anything like that would have happened. She pulled a mobile phone from out of her pocket and using speed dial she rang an old friend. "Eriol?" She said when the person picked up their phone. "Oh hi Tomoyo. It's me, Meiling. Eriol asked me to call if anything interesting happened…" She trailed off listening to something Tomoyo said then laughed. "No, they've not killed each other yet- quite the opposite actually. They're making out in the middle of the street… Yes I'm sure it's them." She laughed. "Yeah, I'll give them a couple more minutes then I'll go out. Any idea what I'll need to make a cake?" She looked bemused. "Yeah, Eriol's right I am a terrible cook but I kind of need to come out the shop with something. Okay, I'm listening…" Meiling wondered about the shop looking for the ingredients that Tomoyo was telling her she'd need.

Sakura

They broke apart panting, both had a slightly red tinge on their cheeks but they looked happy. Sakura swallowed, she didn't really want to ruin the moment but he had to know who Freja really was. She tried to move… to break away only to find she couldn't because Syaoran was holding onto her tightly. She twisted her head and searched his amber pools. Looking into their depths she found her resolve crumbling away, but she knew that she had to tell him there was no other choice. If she didn't tell him then she was working for the Raven's. "Syaoran…" She murmured wretchedly, then screwing up her courage she continued. "Frejaisn'twhoyouthinksheis.SheisanelitememberoftheRaven'sdesignedtodistractmensandfindoutinformationfromthemthatistotheRaven'sadvantage.SheonlysleepswithguyswhotheRaventellshertosleepwith.I'msorryIdidn'ttellyouearlierbutIdidn'trealisewhosheis."

"Say it again, but this time slowly and breathe." He instructed his amber eyes serious, once again she felt distant from him and she couldn't help the feeling that she should have kept her mouth shut. She rested her head on his shoulder so she wouldn't have to look at his face.

"Freja, or rather _drago rosso_ is an elite member of the Raven's. I have no idea what her real name is; all I know is that _drago rosso_ roughly translates into English as red dragon. She is used to obtain information from other gangs, business and well anything the Raven deems as important. Basically, sleeping with her comes at a high price." She bit her lip, "It wasn't until we got into The Nest-Egg that I realised where I'd seen her before." She explained. "Otherwise I'd have said something earlier." She could feel Syaoran tense beneath her so she tried to pull away again only to discover that he was still holding onto her. She looked at him questioningly.

"How do you know what you do about the Raven's?" He demanded, his voice hard but his eyes giving away the inner conflict happening within him. He looked like she had betrayed him but he also looked curious and relieved that she had told him.

"I… I didn't know any other gang existed accept for the Raven's for a long time and when I did I doubted they'd want me for a member, who would want a girl that had connections with their enemies? I mean, could she be trusted? So, for a while I considered joining the Raven's then… Then the old Raven died and a new Raven took over and everything changed. Chad and I ended and the Raven's become increasingly more violent. But in the four years that I was there I picked up a lot of stuff. No one thought I was listening and if I was, who would I tell it to?" She murmured bitterly.

Syaoran looked down at Sakura, she looked frightened and brave both at the same time. How was it possible that she could embody two different emotions at the same time? He knew he had to tread carefully, one wrong move and she would be gone and he didn't want that- though he wasn't quite sure why.

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Authors Note: Well that's it for another chapter of D'Amour I was hoping to make it longer, well to actually get to the part where Sakura and Syaoran become engaged but apparently that wasn't to be. For all you S+S fans I hope you like the small bit of S+S action, there will be more in the next chapter I promise, and for all you wondering about her abrupt confession it's because she has been pushed to the end of her emotional tether and she has to tell someone everything, it just 'happens' to be Syaoran.

I'd just like to say a huge thank you to:

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EucaGirl: Lolz, yah Sakura's outfit's cool. I saw someone wearing something similar to it (but it was black) and I thought hmm… Well Syaoran making out with the waitress is even more problematic than it first appeared but at least he's being a good little wolf… for now ^_~

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JaMiE LoVeR: Yeah I've read Sweep, well Wicca the English version. Yeah Wicca as a religion really exists. If you want to find out about it I suggest you search on the web, or go to a library and look in the religious section. Wicca's a Pagan religion, which I was interested in a couple of year's back- hence how I know about Samhain.

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Sailor Earth: Sorry about missing the 'I' out but I normally just write what it says in the box where the penname is because sometimes people sign different names and its easier for me to know who I've said thank you to. I'm glad you like the story ^_^

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AmericanGirl1114: When people steal other peoples ideas, it's really annoying for the original author which is why if people compare this story to LWL's I always make sure that I tell them it's not. I'm glad you liked the last chapter, and thanks for your support ^_^

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kmpnay: ^_^ The question is thought, even with Sakura's information about the blonde and Sakura's warning, will it stop Syaoran from sleeping with the blonde? A friend's like that as well, if they're annoyed they changed into something gothic-esque. 

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Kawaii_CherryWolf: I hope this chapter made up for the last S+S wise, I did want to put another S+S moment in but because I wanted this out before Christmas I couldn't u.u but I hope you liked the small moment.

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Namesake-Girl: Thankies ^_^

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SaKuRa Kinomoto-Lil: ^_^

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RuByMoOn17: I'll keep writing as long as people keep reviewing, or until I finish the story whichever happens first ^_~ Thankies of the support ^_^

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ChibiKit: I hope you liked the glimpses of the new Sakura you got, if Syaoran misbehaves then she'll be back ^_~ and 'better' just to prove a point.

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Tortured soul246: Espero que su preparación española no fuera demasiado dura. (I must admit I don't speak Spanish, I got that from babelfish's translator). Unfortunately you can't really see Sakura's plans yet cause they've been put on hold ^_~

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silverymare: Don't worry he will do, but the question is will he realise before it's too late? (lol)

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sakurapetalsntears: What does onegai mean? I'm only fluent in English but I can speak a little French, I'm guessing that onegai is Japanese but other than that I have no clue u.u

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babybluestarangel: Noo!! Don't kill Syaoran! *huggles Syaoran* I need him to be alive, if only so I can torture him *grins* (jk) Thankies ^_^

A mammoth THANK YOU to all fourteen people, who reviewed Chapter 4, you helped get the number of reviews I got for this story up to 51- the largest number of reviews I have EVER got for one story. Arigato-gozaimasu.

I hope you all have a fantastic Christmas, and get what you want! A brilliant New Years Eve partying and a wonderful New Year! I, on the other hand, will be revising for my AS-Level Biology exam over the Christmas holiday period- so wish me luck!

Love

Bex Drake

xxx 


	6. Purple Raindrops

D'Amour

By Bex Drake

**Authors Note**: 01/01/04- Happy New Year all!! Apologies about the lateness of this chapter, but I have been hidden somewhere under a pile of exam revision, trying to have a life, trying to find out who I am and some other stuff that isn't really important but when it's all piled on top of you… important doesn't quite describe it.

I would like to thank Jen (strawberry-miow) for her help with this chapter!

Purple Raindrops

Sakura

She shivered; the growing distance between them was bothering her. She barely knew him and yet she felt like she had known him for years. The intensity of her feelings towards him scared her; when she was with him she felt more alive and when she wasn't… she didn't want to remember what that had felt like. Sakura wanted to analyse her feelings but she also didn't want to analyse them because she was scared what she would find out if she did. If she did love him, as she was beginning to suspect that she did, where did that leave her? Did he love her? The kisses certainly meant something, at least to her, but then he was a player…

She stood up, breaking away from his embrace in the hope that in increasing the distance between them she would be able to make her head work. The increased distance between them made no real difference to the ability of her mind to work, all it did was make her feel cold and distance, as if the silence between them hadn't done a good enough job on its own! She stood purposefully looking away from him and staring at the shop Meiling had entered, but she could feel the burning of his stare on her back and she knew that any minute soon she was going to loose the ability to ignore him and…

She found herself searching his eyes before she had even realised that she had turned around, a faint blush stained her cheeks. She bit her lip realising, as she saw something similar to concern in his eyes, that her attempts to distance herself from him might not be taken the way that they should be- she wasn't trying to distance herself from him, she just wanted a bit of space to think. She opened her mouth to speak and then shut it abruptly and looked at the floor. "Syaoran…" She began, her voice trembling wondering what on earth she would say to him. There was always the truth but… wouldn't that be more complicated in the long run than a lie? Perhaps it wouldn't be. She raised her head and found him looking at her intently, waiting for her to continue and something told her that he was not a patient person.

If she said how she thought she felt what would it do? Would it change things? They were supposed to be getting married, and she didn't fool herself into believing that they were getting married out of love. He seemed so close, and yet so distant. She no more knew what he was really thinking or feeling than she knew how a flower felt when someone picked it, she could guess but that wasn't the same thing. "Sakura?" He said, a tinge of worry in his voice bringing her out of her thoughts and away from her procrastinations.

"Shouldn't we go and check on Meiling?" She asked, deciding at the last moment that it would be safer to procrastinate, to put off the moment when she would have to explain to maybe never explain. He looked at her confused for a moment, almost as if he had forgotten who is cousin was in her absence.

"Yes." He replied she didn't miss the bitter tinge to his voice but she did miss the regret mingled in within the bitter tinge. He had felt like she was going to say something important, something so important that its absence felt like a loss.

"What do you think about… about our arranged marriage?" She asked in an attempt to change the subjects. A simple question, but one with a complex answer. If he said anything it could be taken to mean the opposite of what he meant and he didn't want that. Why did he care what affect his answer would have on her, after all she was no one important.

"I don't have to _think_ anything about it." He replied scathingly, his lips twisting into a sneer as he watched her coldly. "I just have to do as I'm told." He said falling back on his favourite defence mechanism- push people as far away from you as possible.

Sakura bit back an equally scathing reply; "It doesn't bother you that you aren't going to marry someone you love?" She asked softly a faint red tinge appearing on her cheeks as she searched his eyes. It bothered her, she had always thought that if she was doing to get married then it would be to someone she loved just like her parents. It had never crossed her mind that she may end up marrying someone she barely knew, just so that two gangs could combine and become one. Even when she had been living with Uta she had never considered the idea that she might be forced to marry someone, although in retrospect she could see her Aunt doing that to her.

"No." He replied honestly having never thought about it like that before, but since he was thinking about it like that he wasn't sure if it didn't bother him that he would never be able to choose his wife. "Anyway, it's not like you or I have a choice." He pointed out pragmatically, "We've known each other a day or so but by tonight we'll be promised to one another, so it wouldn't matter if either of us fell in love because it could never amount to anything. The marriage has to happen no matter what." Sakura nodded, a sad smile tugging at her lips.

"True." She replied. "It's just… I don't know, I guess I always thought that if I married someone it would be because I loved them." She shrugged and bit her lip; "In fact I never thought that I would let anyone get close enough to marry them." She murmured softly smiling absently. She looked up, blushing realising what she had said. "I didn't mean…" She began her blush darkening. Syaoran placed a finger on her lips telling her to be quiet. Her lips felt like silk to his touch and he found himself gently tracing the outline of her lips. She looked at him her emerald eyes wide, then she kissed his finger; with a smile tugging at her lips she removed his hand and lent forward and kissed him. The whole world seemed to disappear as they stood kissing in the middle of the street.

Meiling

She returned to the window with all the ingredients Tomoyo and Eriol had told her that she would need for the cake, which she was supposedly going to make. If there was nothing better to do she might give it a try, if not then she would 'talk' Syaoran into making one for her- which was an art that she had only recently mastered.

She pulled a face remembering, as she caught sight of Syaoran and Sakura kissing, that he soon he wouldn't want her around as he learned to get along with Kinomoto- although he seemed to be good at it with little practise. She smirked; the scene in front of her would be perfect for the next time she wanted to tease him.

She bought the ingredients and left the store and walked up to Syaoran and Sakura who were still making out, she smirked. "You know you should charge for the show." She remarked sitting down on the bench. Sakura and Syaoran broke apart blushing; Syaoran glowered at his cousin it was so typical of her to interrupt when it was just getting to a good part. "How about £1 for ten minutes?" Meiling joked ignoring her cousin's glare.

"Meiling!" He warned. Looking at the cousin's Sakura found her mouth twisting into a smile, and as the 'argument' unfolded she found herself laughing quietly. Syaoran stopped talking mid-sentence and looked at her questioningly. She shrugged helplessly, trying to look innocent, as she caught Meiling's eye and her giggles grew worse. Syaoran looked at her suspiciously, then he looked at Meiling who returned his look innocently smiling, he frowned at her wondering what he had missed.

_*Later that day…*_

Sakura

Sakura stood in front of the mirror, her hair was wrapped in a towel and she stood dressed in a dressing gown having just come out of the shower. In four hours time the promise ceremony would begin and she would be officially promised to Li Syaoran. She smiled remembering Fujitaka explain it to her…

*FLASHBACK*

Fujitaka held up a thin sterling silver ring between his thumb and index finger, it glistened gently in the light. "This is a poesy ring." He explained. "Whilst the concept of promise rings may seem like something new and original it's not, as mythology and sacred texts tell us. In fact, rings have been used to seal promises since the beginning of time. In the sixteenth and seventeenth century in England or France, a wedding ring would invariably be inscribed with a sentiment of love, faith and hope: a short love poem or poesy. Usually a sterling silver ring, like this one, is used as a betrothal ring, which is often replaced with the same poesy ring in gold upon marriage." He placed the poesy ring into her hand, and she smiled looking at the intricate detail etched into it. On the inside some worlds were written in a looped flowing hand.

"Uncle?" She questioned. Fujitaka smiled at her.

"It says _'All I refuse and thee I chuse_'. Once you put this on your finger you will be sworn to Syaoran, and he to you. The words against your skin will hold you to your vow. There is no way to change the promise, no way to break the bond. You will exchange rings in a short ceremony, in which all you will have to do is repeat after him." She let him take the ring back thinking about what he had told her.

"So this promise ceremony is more important than the actual marriage ceremony because once we go through it they'll be now way to back out?" Fujitaka nodded. "Do you think I'm doing the right thing Uncle?" She asked bluntly, wondering what his view on the whole thing was. Fujitaka looked at her thoughtfully wondering what had prompted the question; Sakura didn't usually ask questions for no reason.

"Why? Don't you want to?" He asked carefully, watching her. She bit her lip, and looked away from him staring off into the distance.

"It's not that I object or I don't want to, it's just…" She trailed off her emerald eyes troubled. "I just can't help feeling that it's too sudden." She sighed, "I always thought that I would marry out of love…"

"There are different kinds of love Sakura," Fujitaka said gently. "Some people are lucky enough to marry out of love others learn to love each other and that's what you've got to do." Sakura nodded, she knew that they would be expected to consummate their marriage and that she would be expected to bear his children and heir. Lars had suggested as much and Nariko had confirmed it when she had asked her outright. Sakura knew that Nariko wasn't very happy with the arrangement but neither of them really had a choice. Sakura knew she could not let the two gangs be destroyed and whatever her personal feelings were irrelevant. One must sacrifice the needs of the individual for the needs of the group, which were more important.

*END OF FLASHBACK*

She unwrapped the towel and watched her slightly dry hair fall down and frame her face before brushing her hair gently to get the worst of the knots out, then she plugged in the hair dryer and the curling tongues. Behind her, hanging on the wardrobe door was the dress that she was going to wear at the promise ceremony; it was Tomoyo's latest creation. For once Sakura was glad that her best friend kept designing her dresses. The dress was a masterpiece. It was simple, elegant, dress that was a pale almost white pink that would cling to all her curves when she put it on. She flipped the radio on _Don't Speak_ by No Doubt began blasting out of it into the room, singing along to it she began drying her hair.

Syaoran

He sat on his bed, his clothes laid out neatly on it next to him, and ran his hands through his hair wondering if he was doing the right thing. He had always known that this was going to happen to him, but Sakura… 

He shook his head in an attempt to clear his thoughts, he wasn't sure why it bothered him that he knew that they were getting married because they had to wasn't quite what Sakura wanted- it wasn't exactly a good thing for him either because it would mean that he would loose his bachelor status and he would have to be more secretive about who he slept with. He did not like the fact that the idea of marriage to Sakura seemed more appealing than remaining a bachelor- besides it wasn't like he had a choice he reminded himself in an attempt to ease his feelings of uncertainty. In less than four hours time he would be promised to her, and she to him, and nothing would be able to break their contract once they had said their vows because the rings would forever bind them to their words. Was that really what he wanted? Did he really want Sakura bound to him because she had no other choice, or did he want something more?

Uta

Uta wasn't one for dressing up for important occasions; she didn't really see the point. Not that she counted where she was going tonight as anywhere special. It was just one of the 'perks' of the job and it would give her a perfect opportunity to begin her plan to destroy her niece and everyone her niece cared about, slowly one by one. It was the perfect plan. Once her niece was dead she would control two thirds of the gangs, which would mean that she could manipulate the other gangs and have her way. She was going to be queen of the gangs. But first she was going to destroy the little bitch, Sakura.

She looked at herself in the mirror and smirked, her brown hair flowed over her shoulders in loose ringlets, she reached out to the hair pin box and began slowly to pin it up leaving a few bits to frame her face and her wide blue eyes. She straightened her pale blue dress and put on a diamond necklace. Just as she had done up the clasp the door to her room opened and Zack entered the room, Uta frowned Zack was beginning to forget his place. She knew how he saw her and what he thought he would gain if she was his but that was not going to happen in this lifetime. On the plus side though, he was amazingly loyal. "You were right mistress," He remarked, with a bow. "The rumours are true. The Cherry Blossom and the Little Wolf were seen together in The Nest-Egg, where they both killed White Chad."

"Is that all Zachary?" She enquired coldly, not surprised by the news, turning around to face him her blue eyes colder than water just before it freezes. He shook his head that was the only news he had to give her. "Are you sure?" She demanded standing up. "Because I know you owe me an apology, you have no right to barge in here without knocking- do not forget who I am!" She warned grabbing a delicate lace shawl and securing it around her shoulders. "I want the limo out front in ten minutes, I'm going out."

Zack nodded, "Of course mistress. If you don't mind me asking, where are you going?"

Uta smiled at him pleasantly, "But I do mind you asking." She replied sweetly, "Because it is none of your business." Hiding a scowl Zack bowed and left the room, shutting the door behind him. He was beginning to get tired of following Uta's orders; she only seemed to be interested in her revenge rather than the welfare of the Raven's. He smirked as he walked along the corridor, he would let her carry out her little insignificant plans and then he would take over after all it was to his benefit if Kinomoto Sakura lived because she would take care of Uta making his route clear of any and all competition. Once the overhaul of the Raven's was complete, then the fun would begin. The Raven's would again rise to power and then they would obliterate the weaker Panther's and Wolves- or whatever their new name would be, and they wouldn't see it coming until it was too late. He laughed as he walked into the 'servants' area of the house, which was practically deserted and walked up to Marcus.

"The Raven wants to go out." He remarked coldly, roughling Aurelius Marcus's black hair as he walked by. Marcus grabbed his arm and twisted it, causing Zack to wince in pain. Marcus let go and stood up, straightening his suit briskly; he hated it when anyone messed up his hair.

"The same as normal?" Marcus asked lazily, placing his hat on his head his gooseberry eyes watching Zack closely, like a cat hunting its prey. To an outsider the question would have seemed perfectly innocent, which was how it was meant to be seen, but it carried a dark undertone, a deadly meaning. Marcus wanted to know if Zack wanted him to spy on the Raven, because he was aware of Zack's plans because it was he himself who had planted them there and cultivated them. The time was nearly right for them to bloom.

"Yeah," Zack replied with a sigh, and a sneer of distaste. "She's in a fantastic mood, by the way." He added sarcastically. Marcus smiled and sauntered by Zack and out of the room heading for the limousine.

By the time Uta made her way downstairs and out of the house the limousine was parked at the bottom of the steps. Marcus got out of the driver's side and opened the back door for Uta, shutting it firmly after she entered the car. "Where to Madam?" He asked turning the engine on and putting the car into gear.

"The Wolves Hall." She replied, looking out of the window. The limousine pulled away and drove down the drive and out of the gate, onto the public road before Uta spoke again. "Is everything going as planned?" She asked.

"Yes." Marcus replied with a smirk, "Zack wants me to spy on you again, what do you want me to do?" He asked, not bothering with any formalities. "He still believes he can steal the Raven's from right underneath your nose, boss." Uta laughed.

"I'd like to see him try to, Marcus, I really would." Marcus laughed,

"Don't worry, you'll get the opportunity. He's a fool to think that I would ever disobey you, and he believes that you are too busy plotting your revenge to notice the subtle moves he is making against you." He remarked casually.

"If I didn't know you better I'd be worried Marcus, you have a brilliant mind a dangerous mind, but I know that you'll never betray me because I know your secrets Marcus." Marcus inclined his head in acknowledgement of her words as he concentrated on the road. "It began over ten years ago and it will end soon." Uta remarked cryptically, Marcus kept his eyes glued on the road and gave no sign that he had heard her last comment.

Sakura

She was standing facing Syaoran, around them was a circle of people made up of the most important members of the local gangs. She smiled nervously at Syaoran when she caught his eye; he smiled back before casting his eyes around the room, as if he was remembering every single face for later reference. Amodeus Lars stepped forward; he was dressed in a black tuxedo, as were most of the men in the room, he nodded to Sakura before coughing pointedly. The room descended into silence, and Sakura could feel everyone's eyes on her, she tried not to show any reaction but looking across at her Syaoran could see the fear in her eyes- he was glad he was not the only one who felt uncomfortable. "Welcome to the promise ceremony that will link the Wolves and the Panthers together, so that they will become one gang. Tonight is your last chance to voice any doubts you have about the joining of the two gangs." Lars paused and looked around the room slowly; everyone stared back at him expectantly. "The union of the gangs will be complete when Li Syaoran, of the Wolves, and Kinomoto Sakura, of the Panthers marry in a weeks time." Sakura blinked surprised, trust her Uncles to spring it on her now when there was no possible way that she could comment. "Tonight, they will promise themselves to each other." He moved back so that Syaoran and Sakura were in fill view of their 'guests', both stood staring forward looking at no one. Syaoran surprised Sakura by reaching across and grabbing her hand then squeezing it reassuringly; she smiled at him before returning her gaze to the sea of people.

"Does anyone have any doubts?" Lars asked. Sakura frowned looking at the back of the crowd, hidden in the shadows was someone who looked eerily familiar but she couldn't quiet place them.

When no one voiced any doubts Lars nodded to Syaoran, who inclined his head in reply. "As no one has spoken up, then the ceremony can begin." Syaoran dropped Sakura's hand; slowly they walked into the centre of a large circle and stood facing each other- amber eyes searching emerald, and emerald searching amber. Both were doing it out of duty, but both were wondering if they were doing the right thing. Lars stood on Sakura's left, and Ieran stood on Syaoran's left both of them were holding a cushion on which was placed a delicate silver promise ring. The ceremony itself would be short, but once they had spoken their vow and sealed it with a kiss their words would be unbreakable. Sakura took her ring from Lars' cushion just as Syaoran took his ring from his mother's cushion.

_"This ring, which is the symbol of my oath,_

_Which will hold me to the words I speak:_

_All I refuse and thee I choose." _They said in unison, holding the others gaze, then they slipped their ring onto their ring finger and sealed their vows with a kiss. The kiss at first was soft, then it became more urgent as if the promise ceremony had woken up feelings within them. Their silver rings glowed slightly, sealing them to their promise. Frowning Ieran poked Syaoran hard causing him and Sakura to break apart blushing. They looked at the crowd to find people clapping and cheering; then they looked at each other confused and blushed more.

In the crowd Sakura caught sight of Tomoyo with a video camera, she frowned at her friend who just waved back cheerfully before she could do anything- like go off and strangle Tomoyo- Sakura found herself enveloped in a hug. She blinked and looked at Nariko who was drawing back, tears cascading down her face. "What's wrong?" Sakura whispered hugging Nariko again tightly.

"Nothing." Nariko replied Sakura pursed her lips unconvinced as Nariko pulled away and wiped the tears from her face with a handkerchief.

"Congratulations!" She said smiling at both Sakura and Syaoran, before disappearing into the crowds. Sakura started to go after her but Syaoran grabbed her arm and shook his head.

"You can't go yet." He explained pulling her close to him and wrapping his arm around her waist, Sakura scowled at him.

"Why not?" She hissed, looking extremely unamused.

"Because they would take it as you slighting them." He said gesturing to the crowd Sakura sighed in resignation knowing that he was right. He smiled and kissed her on the cheek- it was a brotherly kiss. She wasn't sure what annoyed her the most the fact he had actually kissed her or the kiss was like one she would have received off of him were he her brother. She pulled out of his grasp and stood next to him like a 'good little girl' because she knew that she was on show tonight and half the people present would not know her and realise that she was the Cherry Blossom.

The line of people offering their congratulations on the upcoming marriage seemed endless, Tomoyo and Eriol were one of the last to talk to them. Tomoyo was wearing one of her own creations, as per normal, it was a lilac flowing silk dress that clung to her in all the right places her dark hair cascaded down her back. She leaned forward and hugged Sakura, who could smell Tomoyo's lavender perfume, and then she kissed Syaoran on the cheek. After she had done this she stepped back whilst Eriol and Syaoran hugged and Eriol kissed Sakura's hand. The two couples and best friends stood looking at one another. "Sakura, are you sure that you are doing the right thing?" Tomoyo asked, breaking the silence between them. "I know you want to help your Uncle but…" She trailed off, her violet eyes unhappy as she awaited Sakura's response- as Eriol did and Syaoran.

Sakura shifted uncomfortably aware of the attention being paid to her response, before looking at them each in turn: Tomoyo- her best friend, since… well forever. Eriol- Tomoyo's boyfriend, he looked like a nice guy and he seemed to really care about Tomoyo. And finally, Syaoran- the guy whom she was going to marry but had no idea what she thought and felt about it. It was typical of Tomoyo to voice the question that was plaguing her heart- it was like Tomoyo had a sixth sense about Sakura's feelings. "Yes." She replied simply looking Tomoyo in the eye. "I am doing the right thing, Tomoyo. I cannot let two gangs be destroyed by another's greed because I know it won't stop there." She swallowed. "Besides…" She smiled and glanced at Syaoran and winked at him. "I kinda like the fact that I'm going to marry the most eligible bachelor, even with his reputation." She added wickedly, Syaoran chuckled and Eriol smirked in response to her comment. Tomoyo looked at the surprised and then smiled, glad that Sakura was apparently taking things so well but she didn't miss the sadness in Sakura's eyes that she wasn't sure was entirely due to her elder sister's death.

Eriol smiled at Syaoran. "I thought you said you would be the last of us to marry." He joked, a wry smile tugging at his lips. "And it was only a couple of days ago that you said I'd get married before you did." Syaoran laughed.

"There's still time." He reminded Eriol, who scowled whilst Tomoyo blushed and Sakura smiled and shook her head biting back a laugh that was threatening to escape. She caught Syaoran's eye and struggled to keep her laughter contained but couldn't. She tried to look apologetically at Tomoyo whilst she was laughing because her best friend was glaring daggers at her.

A guy with black hair and gooseberry eyes walked towards the group of friends, he bowed respectfully to Syaoran and Sakura. "Congratulations." He said in a cool voice, Sakura felt vaguely uncomfortable under his gaze- like he could see things within her that she didn't want him to see. He moved towards her and Tomoyo moved out of the way. "Your Aunt asks if you will meet her outside, she would like to give you something." With a nod he turned away and disappeared into the crowds.

Sakura stared after him her emerald eyes oddly thoughtful, as if she distrusted his motives. Then she gathered her skirt in her hand, to make it easier and quicker to walk, and turned to Syaoran, Eriol and Tomoyo. "If you'll excuse me…" She began frowning Syaoran interrupted her.

"I don't think you should go on your own Sakura." He said quietly, worry entering his amber eyes.

"I'll go with her." Tomoyo offered, seeing the look of annoyance and determination that crossed Sakura's face. Syaoran sighed but relented, looking troubled. He watched as Sakura and Tomoyo walked together through the crowds deep in conversation and out of the door. He turned to Eriol.

"You did the right thing." Eriol replied, "Besides, she'd have gone anyway with or without your agreement."

Sakura and Tomoyo left the crowded room and walked outside, as soon as they left they room they instantly moved together sensing the tension in the air. Sakura silently cursed her stupidity; she wasn't carrying a gun because a) her outfit wouldn't allow it and b) she wasn't allowed to because of the ceremony. 

"Hello Sakura." A voice purred it's dark seductive tones weaving a familiar shiver down Sakura's back. She glanced around but all she could see where shadow's, tentatively she stepped forward gesturing for Tomoyo to stay where she was. "It's been a long time Sakura, hasn't it?" The voice continued Sakura bit her lip in frustration. The voice was so familiar, she felt like she should know it without having to think about it. 

Directly opposite from Sakura, Nariko walked out from behind a pillar. Sakura could see that she was trembling and without realising it Sakura took a step forward, then another, then another… until she was standing directly in front of Nariko. "What's going on?" Sakura asked as she removed Nariko's gag and began untying her arms. Somewhere in the darkness Sakura heard someone load their gun, she froze realising that she had done exactly as they had wanted her to- she had made herself an open target. She cursed under her breath, she should have been more careful. She took a step back from her Aunt and looked around, trying in vain to locate the person with the gun.

"Come on Sakura, you can do better than that!" The voice taunted, Sakura closed her eyes blocking off all distracting sounds as she tried to locate where the person was. Slowly the sounds of talking from the hall disappeared from her thoughts and she came to realise that there were four people standing in the paved area. Nariko was standing north of her, Tomoyo was standing south of her and the other person was standing either east or west of her, she wasn't sure which. The other person could have been anyone and she didn't know if there was one or two guns pointed at her, she was royally screwed.

"Who are you?" She yelled, looking from east to west in around the places where she believed that the unknown person could have been standing. Her right hand automatically went down to where her gun should have been and she cursed, she had known it was stupid to leave her gun behind but everyone seemed to think that no one would have been stupid enough to try and harm her on the night of the promise ceremony. She glanced at Tomoyo and then concentrated on trying to locate the figure. 

"Get the hell out of here now Sakura!" Nariko instructed. "It's you they want, leave me and get out!" The laughter that danced out from the east indicated that the person was female.

"I wouldn't be so presumptuous Nariko." The voice purred. "Sometimes things aren't as obvious as they seem, take for example Ayame's death." Sakura shuddered; feeling icy fingers dance along her spin. Whoever the person was, she knew about Ayame and not a lot of people knew about her elder sister. "The wrong person was found guilty of her murder, thanks to your interfering." The voice taunted.

"What?" Nariko questioned weakly feeling her legs start to give way beneath her. The person laughed. The figure moved in the shadows, moving forward to get a clearer shot, they raised their gun took aim and fired. With only a split second to decide what to do Nariko dived in front of Sakura and took the bullet that was winging its way towards her niece, she cried out in pain and fell to the ground.

"NARIKO!" Sakura screamed, realising too late what her aunt had done. Crying she collapsed on her knees next to Nariko and began frantically searching for a pulse. Tomoyo ran towards her, but Sakura looked up tears streaming down her face. "Tomoyo! Get Syaoran and Lars." With a nod Tomoyo turned and ran back inside. Sakura pulled Nariko towards her and tenderly stroked her face, knowing that Nariko was dying and there was nothing she could do to help her. "Who the hell are you?" Sakura spat, "And what the fuck do you want?"

The voice gave a cold chuckle. "I am someone you know and someone you don't." It replied cryptically. "As to what I want… I want to destroy you; just like you did me over ten years ago, but first I am going to kill everyone you love. Nariko was the first and Syaoran will be the last." Sakura looked around, trying to locate the voice but to no avail. "Goodbye Kinomoto Sakura, Cherry Blossom." Sakura looked down at Nariko and discovered that she had died whilst Sakura had been talking, cursing herself silently, Sakura broke down crying still clutching Nariko's lifeless body.

Syaoran

"Syaoran!" Tomoyo called rushing towards him; he was in the middle of talking to an influential family within the Wolves, he turned to her scowling but she paid him no heed her worry for Sakura too great. "Sakura needs you now, she's outside. I'm trying to find Lars have you seen him?" With a polite bow Syaoran excused himself and rushed outside, passing quickly through the groups of people. He knew that something was seriously wrong, because something told him that Tomoyo would never be that rude unless it was an emergency.

The sight that greeted him when he left the hall was heart breaking. Sakura was bent over Nariko her pale pink dress stained with blood; Syaoran felt worry build up inside him hoping that it wasn't Sakura's blood that she wasn't bleeding. "Sakura?" He called tentatively running towards her. She looked up her face paler than normal and tear stained, he felt his heart contract painfully the pain in her eyes was unbearable. She stood up and stumbled slightly before running towards him and clutching him tightly as she burst into tears again, burying her face into his neck. Syaoran stood there hugging her tightly, wondering what on earth had happened. After what seemed like an eternity he felt her begin to calm down, her breathing become more even. Finally she drew back, but he could still feel her trembling so he wrapped an arm around her waist and drew her close to him. She smiled at him gratefully her emerald pools sad and detached. "What happened Sakura?" He asked just as Lars, Tomoyo, Eriol and his mother appeared. Lars immediately went over to where Nariko's body lay to check if she was alive and to see what had happened for himself, he shook his head sadly standing up indicating that she was dead. Sakura lent against him, in an attempt to compose herself. She pulled back slightly but stayed close to him, as if she were afraid of what would happen if she stepped too far away.

"I don't really know." She replied in a small voice, making Syaoran want to take her away and lock her away somewhere safe to protect her. She didn't belong in his world; he wondered why her Uncle had let her enter it. She was too innocent to survive in his world. "You were there when that guy came and told me my Aunt wanted to speak to me and I went off with Tomoyo." She paused and licked her lips, her eyes growing distant as she sought to remember and distance herself from the event at the same time. Then she began to relate the story as accurately as she could remember, Tomoyo offering suggestions and words whenever Sakura became stuck. When she had reached the end of the story her grief overwhelmed her again and she buried her face into Syaoran's awaiting shoulder, as he hugged her tightly and whispered comforting words to her that she was barely paying attention to.

"Where's Sakura going to stay tonight?" Tomoyo asked softly, voicing one of the questions no one wanted to. "She can stay at my house." She volunteered but Syaoran shook his head, his amber eyes solemn. 

"No. That would put you in danger." Syaoran replied Sakura nodded in agreement with him drawing away from him slightly her eyes puffy from all the crying she didn't dare say anything for fear of crying again. "She can stay at my house." He said firmly looking directly at Lars. "She would have been living with me anyway, soon." He pointed out calmly. Lars looked thoughtful. Ieran smiled, proud of her son. It looked like Sakura was going to be as good a match for him as she had thought.

"Where do you want to stay Sakura?" He asked softly knowing that she should be the one to make the decision, she shrugged helplessly in reply her normally clear eyes cloudy with emotions.

"I guess…" She began, her voice trembling.

"Staying with me will be the safest place to stay." Syaoran pointed out rationally. "Both of your Uncles are staying in hotels and you don't want to put anyone in danger. My house is surrounded by security systems and I'll look after you." He offered, hardly believing what he was doing. Never before had he willing offered to look after anyone who wasn't direct family- but she just looked so lost. Sakura looked at him searching his eyes, as if she wanted to be sure of his intentions, then she nodded in agreement putting an end to the matter although Tomoyo was less than happy with the arrangement. Syaoran couldn't blame her, he knew that she just wanted to take care of Sakura like he did. "Mother, will you apologise for Sakura and I please." His mother nodded then she and Lars headed back into the hall. 

"Take care, Sakura." Tomoyo said softly, before turning away. Silently she and Eriol walked off, to where his car was parked where they were going Syaoran had no idea and he didn't really care he just wanted to take care of Sakura. Carefully he guided her to his car and strapped her in before pulling off. They travelled in silence to his house, which Syaoran found very disconcerting the other times he had seen Sakura, been with her, she hadn't stopped talking and now that she wasn't talking the car felt eerily silent.

Once they arrived at his house Syaoran drew her inside and ordered one of his servants to prepare a guest room near to his, the servant bowed and hurried to follow his instructions. Whilst they waited Syaoran led Sakura to the kitchen and made a pot of tea, he took a couple of cakes from the cake tin and set a cup of sweet tea and the cake in front of her. "Drink." He instructed, with a sigh of resignation she picked up the tea and took a small sip of it. He sat down opposite her and drank his own tea watching her carefully. She seemed really fragile, fragile enough that a gentle breeze could shatter into a million pieces.

Half an hour later the servant returned letting him know that the room and bed were ready, so he led her up to the room and left her in there sitting on the bed before returning with one of his t-shirts which he knew would be a bit too big for her and serve as a perfect night-dress. She smiled gratefully at him and he left the room allowing her to get changed. He returned ten minutes later, also ready for bed, to say goodnight to her if she was still awake. He found her lying in the centre of the bed trembling, she looked up as he entered and made an effort to make herself stop trembling. "Are you okay?" He demanded she nodded and he knew that she was lying but decided to drop it. "Good night Sakura." He said turning to leave the room.

"Syaoran?" She whispered softly, he turned to face her.

"Yes?" He replied equally as soft. A faint blush tinged her cheeks.

"Will you stay the night with me?" She asked, "I wouldn't ask, only I don't want to be on my own." She confided. Syaoran swallowed, he wasn't used to girls asking him to do that. If he was honest he knew he purposefully picked girls that wouldn't do that, so he couldn't get too close. He sighed.

"Okay." He replied walking over to the bed and climbing into it. "I'll stay with you tonight." She smiled at him gratefully, although he was unable to see it because she had her back to him. She rolled over to face him, so that they ended up millimetres apart.

"Thank you." She whispered softly, as Syaoran turned the lights off by pulling the cord above their heads. She moved closer to him and rested her head just before his chest; he tenderly wrapped his arms around her drawing her closer to him until her head rested on his chest. Within minutes she was asleep smiling. It took Syaoran longer to drop off to sleep, as he lay there wondering what she was doing to him that was making him drop all the walls he had carefully placed around him.

**Authors Note**: 09/02/04- So there you have it, a couple of months late, the sixth chapter. I apologise for the length of time it took me to write this but life just got in the way. I hope that you liked this chapter, and hopefully the seventh chapter will be out soon- Bex Drake.

I would just like to say a special thanks to:

**AmericanGirl1114:** Sorry you had such a long wait until this chapter :( but I did my best to update ASAP! I'm glad you liked the last chapter, this chapter had a much more serious theme than the last one and I hope it reads as well as the last one.

**Moonlight's Shadow:** Thank you n.n

**EcuaGirl:** Uta isn't all there and Freja was only doing her job, you'll see more of her in later chapters. Is she like one of LWL's bad girls? I didn't purposefully make her like that, I just had a picture in my head and I thought that she could be the perfect opposite of Sakura- opps here I am giving away little plot secrets ^_~

**Sarah:** Yeah, Sakura did have a really tough life and she's scared from it but it isn't over quite yet.

**Rumi ai no Pocky:** Cool name, btw. I take it it means something? Thanks for telling me what onegai was and don't worry about the delay.

**silverymare:** Yeah, Freja will be in future chapters. I kind of like her; she mirrors Sakura in a way. Sorry for the delay, you've had to wait two months for this chapter which I *hope* will be the longest you'll have to wait for future chapters.

**~riverwind:** I'm glad that you liked the story so far, and I guess I'm starting to get into Sakura and Syaoran's characters because I'm trying to keep them as in character as possible but also make them unique to this story character wise.

**RIDGEWATER:** Thankies ^_^

**tortured-soul-246:** Thanks for the review, just as long as I get reviews I'm happy ^_^

**Cherry Jade:** Thanks ^_^

**mara-jade17: **I'm not sure if Meiling is going to make a cake, she probably will just to justify her cover story. This chapter was fun to write, but also hard- it was the hardest chapter to write so far because I just couldn't seem to get the right tone.

**no name: **Yeah, I noticed the lack of action and the fact I took so long over the first day. Hopefully from here onwards the pace will be faster and they'll be more action!

**~*~NeCi~*~:** *hangs head* I try to update as often as possible, but I'm not always happy with what I've written so I re-write which is what takes me so long in updating.

**Cherryblossom-crystal:** Yukito and Touya may pop in in later chapters, to be perfectly honest I'm not totally sure. I have a basic plan in my head, but that's all.

**Scorpinac:** When you reviewed I had about two-thirds of this chapter written, but I wasn't happy with it so I changed it a bit and then continued. Apologies for the wait.

**synchrogirl:** Thanks ^_^

To 'reviewer' and '….', whilst I doubt you will read this far I will comment on your reviews anyway. I am perfectly well aware of the similarities- many people have pointed them out to me- in the first chapter but if you had continued reading you would have noticed that the story has and is my own work.

Thank you to anyone who I have not mentioned for reviewing, and to those of you who read and don't review. Please review this chapter, my target of getting 100 reviews for this fic is drawing near and I'm very excited. Bex Drake.


	7. A Dark Cloudy Sky

D'Amour

By Bex Drake

****

Authors Note: 14/02/04- Seeing as this week is half term week for me I thought that I would 'attempt' to write the seventh chapter in a week and stick it up online. It is unlikely that I'll manage this goal but I'm determined to try.

A Dark Cloudy Sky

Sakura

It was midnight. The house was eerily silent and strangely unfamiliar, Sakura sat up in bed shaking. She had had the strangest dream, it had been really life like and it wasn't really a dream it was a nightmare. She had just dreamt that she had witnessed her Aunt Nariko's death and stood by and done nothing. She ran a hand through her hair breathing deeply to calm herself. She was just having another nightmare, like she had had practically every single week since Ayame's death. It was nothing new but the cold feeling in the pit of her stomach told her it was, that everything had changed. She didn't want to believe anything had changed because if it had that meant she would have lost someone close to her again and she wasn't sure she could bear the pain again, the feelings of isolation and despair. Absent-mindedly she ran her hand along her wrist, her fingers softly tracing the contours of her skin. At ten years old she head reached the point when she had just wanted to slit her wrists the pain had been unbearable but Nariko had walked into the bathroom right before she could put the first cut on her wrist and taken away the knife then she had made Sakura promise that no matter how bad things got she would never, ever, physically harm herself. It was like Nariko knew that she could never promise not to hurt herself psychologically. Sakura smiled sadly.

An arm squeezed her tightly round the waist and Sakura bit down a scream of shock wondering what on earth was going on. As she moved her left arm towards her face she noticed that her ring finger glittered and flickered gently in the light. As she drew her hand closer to her eyes to examine it she saw the promise ring on her finger and it all came flooding back to her, that it wasn't a dream. It was real. She was all alone now in the world and she was engaged to Li Syaoran- who she was right now sharing a bed with, at her request. Which of it self was a bit of a shock, she had never really thought that she would share a bed with him- with anyone, if she was to be frank- but here she was lying in the same bed as him. She rolled over to face him and gently brushed his hair off of his face; at least he was asleep. With a sigh she closed her eyes and willed herself back to sleep, into a land where she wouldn't have to face reality.

Syaoran

He opened his amber eyes and looked at her sleeping form, when she had brushed the hair off of his face he had pretended to be asleep because he didn't want her to catch him watching her. She had seemed so lost and so frightened that he had just wanted to reach out and kiss or caress all the fears away but he had restrained himself. He had no idea how she would react. He didn't want to push her away.

"I love you Sakura." He whispered, realising as he uttered the words how true they were.

"I love you too." She mumbled in reply turning over, away from him. Shocked he sat up in bed and studied her, he had thought that she was asleep. Looking at her lying in bed, and the gentle rise and fall of her chest he realised that she was asleep like he thought. What did it mean, then, her reply? Did it mean she loved him? With a sigh he closed his eyes and let sleep take him once more.

Uta

Yesterday's plan had been a complete success; she had managed to eliminate Nariko. A mere pawn that was standing in her way to the king- Sakura. She would have to be careful of Syaoran, he was the queen- able to move anywhere on the board to eliminate her side and protect Sakura. But sooner or later he would make a wrong move and fall into her trap. Once Sakura was short of Syaoran Uta knew that she would fall. The pieces were in place, and the first move had been made, all that was left to do what to wait for white to make their second move- the first had been the removal of her queen, Chase. Soon she would see how well Sakura would manage all on her own.

"Uta?" Zack called hesitantly, "Your car's out front." She nodded at him dismissively and got up out of the chair. The best way to celebrate a minor victory was to buy a new outfit, at least in her opinion it was, although a good fuck was a close second. She was sure Zack would be willing to provide it but she didn't want the baggage that she knew would follow.

Sakura

She awoke for the second time that day, well it wasn't really day when she had woken up earlier it was more like night but time wise it was today, this time to a gentle stream of sunlight falling across her face. She opened her emerald eyes and blinked sleepily waiting for them to adjust to the different level of light. When they did, she noticed that Syaoran was lying next to her watching her. She felt her cheeks go pink. "Morning." She said softly smiling at him, "What's the time?"

He casually glanced at his watch. "About half eight." He replied returning his gaze to her. She sat up in the bed and returned his gaze calmly, a light smile gracing her lips. She lent forward and kissed his cheek, her eyes sparkling with mischief.

"Thank you." She said turning and getting out of the bread. As she got out of the bed she caught sight of the dress she had been wearing last night and swallowed. This was every bit as hard as she had remembered it.

"Sakura?" Syaoran called. She turned around to find him standing directly behind her. He wrapped his arms around her waist and lent down and kissed her. She brought her arms up and around his neck. When they broke apart Sakura smiled breathless, she looked into his eyes searching for something. 

He was confused about her reaction, to him it just didn't seem real- it was like she had put up a facade- there was just something wrong considering that she had just witnessed her Aunt's death, but being cheerful and getting on with life was Sakura's way or rather dealing with by not dealing with it and pushing it FAR away. She poked him, deciding that he was taking too long thinking when he glanced at her she stuck her tongue at him laughing. "What's so interesting?" She asked grinning wickedly, her emerald orbs concerned. He shook his head his amber eyes playful. Sakura raised an eyebrow questioningly. "I don't believe that for a moment." She replied twisting so she ended up kneeling, with some weight on her arms. He smirked.

"Really?" He replied, "And what could I possibly be thinking about?" He asked suggestively winking at her; he was rewarded by a faint pink tinge appearing on her cheeks. He chuckled causing her to glare at him, although after a couple of seconds she was smiling slightly amused that she had allowed him to get to her so easily.

Without warning she lunged at him like a six or seven year old does to their older sibling when they want something the older one has got, he grabbed her wrists and using her momentum flipped her over the other side of him and rolled so he was sitting on top of her knees on either side of her torso and pinning her arms down above her head. She glared at him struggling for a couple of minutes but to no avail, abruptly she started laughing. He grinned down at her, moving his hands so that he was holding down both her arms with just one hand, then with his free hand he began tickling her. "No fair!!" Sakura complained between giggling fits. "You can't do this to me!" Syaoran made no reply and continued tickling her unmercifully.

When he stopped he found that he was looking directly into Sakura's face, and she into his. Slowly he lent down and their lips met in a timid kiss. They broke apart and he searched her eyes, then he let her hands go and she brought her arms up and around his neck pulling him down for another, deeper, kiss. They broke apart breathless looking into the others eyes, before leaning in for another kiss. As the kiss deepened Sakura realised that Syaoran's hands were inside her top, quite how they had got there she wasn't sure and she certainly wasn't complaining- to her they felt right against her skin. Slowly, almost timidly Sakura moved her arms and whilst kissing Syaoran began to undo the buttons of his shirt to allow her free access to his chest.

Syaoran began kissing her along her jaw line and down her neck as he began removing her top, as she had already done to him. Her hands were soft against his skin, and delicate where they touched it felt like a butterfly has just moved there. Having removed her top Syaoran drew back to look at his future wife and smiled, her emerald eyes were sparkling with lust and she was looking more beautiful than ever to him. Before they went any further he had to know one thing- did she know what she was doing? "Sakura…" He began. Sakura's eyes turned serious although she was still smiling at him.

"I know what I'm doing Syaoran." She said softly. Syaoran flashed her his 'devil may care' grin although he continued to search her eyes as if he just wanted to make sure that she wasn't just doing it because of how she felt- he didn't want to take advantage of her.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." She replied calmly, as if she knew that he had to make sure. "I know what I'm doing and why I'm doing it. I trust you Syaoran."

"Good." He replied, "But are you sure…" Sakura stopped him mid-sentence by kissing him, she knew what she was doing she was just about to sleep with her future husband for the first time and she had no idea how she really felt about him- but on the plus he sure had a nice body. She smiled involuntarily when this thought crossed her mind.

The world disappeared in passion.

Fujitaka

He rubbed his eyes tiredly, he and Lars had been up all night with Li Ieran working through business contracts, and dealing with the police, as they finally signed and sealed the deals that would link the two gangs together and the Kinomoto inheritance that Sakura or her descendants would receive upon the death of Touya because Fujitaka knew that there would be no Kinomoto heir coming from his son. Touya had agreed to the contract on the condition that Sakura didn't know, because he knew his kind-hearted cousin would not want to inherit the money. All that was left was for Sakura and Syaoran to sign the contracts to say that they too- as future leaders- agreed.

Last night had left him deeply troubled. Nariko's death had seemed like an ominous omen, that Sakura and Syaoran shouldn't get married because of the blood spilt at their promise ceremony. He was sure Sakura had kept some of the story back, almost as if she were afraid and that whoever had killed Nariko had threatened her with something- Lars agreed with him and both of them knew that they would get no where until Sakura was ready to tell.

The night her sister Ayame had been killed had never totally been explained, although Chase had been found guilty the probability of him actually committing the act was minute- they all knew that, even Sakura. He wondered if she still cried in private, like Nariko had told him once a couple of years after the dark day. Ever since Ayame's death Sakura seemed to have retreated within herself and she seemed to always be wary of men which was why neither he or Lars had ever taken her. Perhaps she resented them for this? But he knew in his heart that Sakura loved Nariko and her death- just like Ayame's- would tare his niece apart slowly. She would be forever shining and happy on the outside but once you looked into her eyes- really looked- you would see a whole new world, a world that made him afraid. A world where the price of life was known as were the lies- a place where there was only truth, even when the truth ripped your heart out.

He hoped that he and Lars were doing the right thing marrying her off. Nariko had been against it from the start and she was the one that knew Sakura the beat, apart from Tomoyo whom he had been secretly keeping in touch with over the years. Sakura would have gone along with the plan once she knew the why even if she was against it, he knew, because she always had cared more about others than herself. He only hoped that their actions wouldn't cause her downfall.

Syaoran

The day had started unexpectedly, to put it mildly. Last night he had slept in the same bed as a woman whom he hadn't had sex with for the first time since his childhood and it hadn't been as weird as he had thought that it would be- maybe that had been because the girl had been Sakura? Then this morning…

His thoughts trailed off as Sakura moved and sat up smiling at him. "Can we get some breakfast?" She asked pulling on the t-shirt she had borrowed from him, and turning her hopeful emerald eyes towards him. He laughed at the childlike quality the look took on, she stuck her tongue out at him in response almost like she was aware of what his thoughts were. A loud knock came from the door and it opened without him or Sakura saying that it was okay to enter, he scowled in annoyance at Wei.

"Syaoran, Miss Kinomoto." He began. "I apologise for disturbing you but there are two people here who which to see you both." Sakura glanced questioningly at Syaoran before turning to Wei, a pleasant smile on her face. 

"Please, call me Sakura." She began her eyes dark for a moment as she thought about her family. "Did they give their names?" She asked running a hand through her hair, glad that she had, had, the foresight to put the t-shirt on.

"A Mr Aurelius and DI…" Wei trailed off thinking, the DI had had a weird name what was it?

"DI Yamagata by any chance?" She asked warily. Wei nodded; Sakura curled her lip in disgust. "It figures." She grumbled. "I mean we got on so famously last time- I bet he even volunteered!"

"Sakura?" Syaoran questioned wondering why all of a sudden she looked like she wanted to kill someone. She turned to him, her face passive- too so- but her emerald orbs burned with an intense fire that threatened to consume him when he looked into them. She blinked, breaking their hold on him.

"My sister Ayame was murdered…" She paused thinking how to best phrase the next part, she didn't want to phrase it wrong because of the repercussions that might ensue. "And DI Yamagata accuse me of murdering her." She said bluntly, her eyes hard and cold. "Me! I was only five years old at the time and had no idea what murder was." She said her voice bitter and she shook her head in disgust. "And he wouldn't drop it, no matter how much evidence there was against his beliefs as far as he was concerned I was guilty- I had murdered my sister." She laughed bitterly; her eyes though were strangely numb. " And for a long time I agreed with him. If I hadn't gone and left her then she'd still be alive now!" She said sourly. "But as Nariko said there is no guarantee of anything. You have to live for the moment." She said, though her tone portrayed the fact she didn't believe the words that she had just uttered. She climbed out of the bed and turned to face Syaoran. "Have you got anything else I could borrow?" She asked. "It's just…" She looked down at the t-shirt helplessly then smirked. "Much as I would love to see the look on Yamagata's face if I walked in like this I don't think it'd be a good idea." 

Syaoran chuckled at the though of her actually having the guts to do something like that- he doubted that she would actually do it. He thought about her question, when the practicality of the situation reached him. "I think there are still some of my sisters clothes here, and you're bound to fit into them." He said to Sakura. "Wei, could you fetch Lita please?" He asked, Wei nodded and left the room.

Syaoran rolled over to find Sakura looking at him curiously. "You know…" She began matter-of-factly, smiling impishly. "You look kind of cute like that." He scowled at her, just as she had guessed he hated being called 'cute'. She laughed at his expression. "What? Did I say something wrong?" She asked her face a mask of innocence until she burst out laughing again because she couldn't contain her mirth. He leaned over and threw a pillow at her hitting her on the chest. She looked at him surprised for a couple of seconds and then leant down and picked up the pillow. "This means war Mr. Li" She said her emerald eyes sparkling with mischief, as she advanced towards him.

"Does it Miss Kinomoto?" He asked calmly, as he watched her move closer to him. When she was within striking distance he reached out and pulled the pillow from her grasp.

"No fair!" She mumbled pouting; he chuckled and lent forward so his mouth was by her ear.

"All's fair." He whispered, his warm breath tickling her.

It was mere seconds after he had uttered that that Lita walked in and found them when she walked into the room. "Good morning Mr. Li" She said cheerfully, looking curiously at Sakura- Syaoran didn't often bring his conquests home with him usually he just took them to some hotel or other.

"Lita, this is my fiancée Kinomoto Sakura." He said calmly, then she remembered that she had overheard him on the phone to his mother talking about his upcoming engagement. Lita turned her attention to the girl and began studying her quickly. "Could you take her to my sisters room, she needs to borrow some clothes." Lita nodded smiling, on a first glance the Kinomoto girl didn't look that bad but then appearances can be deceiving.

"Of course, sir. This way Kinomoto-san." She said cheerfully. Sakura waved slightly to Syaoran and turned and followed Lita. Syaoran climbed out of the bed and shut the door, running a hand through his tussled locks he yawned sleepily as he headed for the bathroom.

Sakura

In all honesty Sakura couldn't remember a lot about last night, apart from Nariko's death and that she wished she could forget. In her heart she felt like she had let Nariko down but she kept her thoughts silent because she knew everyone would deny it but in their eyes she would see a different story- just like she had seen with Ayame's death. They all thought that she should have stayed with her sister and then maybe they'd both be alive but the dark, truthful, part of her heart whispered that if she had stayed then they would both be dead now and was that really such a bad thing when they all blamed her?

"Kinomoto-san?" Lita said interrupting her thoughts. "We're here." Lita opened the door to a large grand room that was decorated in traditional Chinese style. They walked inside and Lita headed straight for a large wardrobe, Sakura followed her nervous.

"Please, call me Sakura." She said cheerfully, her eyes still sad from her thoughts. She cursed Yamagata silently, for making her relive the fears she had for so long fought to overcome. "If possible I need to wear something formal." She said softly.

"Of course Sakura." Lita said as she began rummaging through the clothes, "If you don't mind me asking how long have you known Syaoran?" Sakura shook her head smiling.

"Not at all. A day… two days." She shrugged. "Our marriage was arranged." She added by way of explanation. Lita nodded, thoughtfully. "Have you worked for Syaoran long?" She questioned.

"Since he was a little boy." Lita confided with a smile. "He was just as serious, as a boy. You were more likely to find him off in some corner studying from a book or with his sword than you were to find him with his sisters or playing." Sakura smiled. "If you don't mind me asking Sakura but I'd like to know a bit about you." Sakura's eyes darkened slightly and Lita realised that she had hit a nerve. "You don't ha…" She began but Sakura interrupted, her gaze firmly fixed on the carpeted floor.

"Don't worry, I know you only ask because you want to protect Syaoran and I believe you really want to know my answer. You'll have probably read my 'sad' story in the papers and not realised it was me." She continued bitterly. "But to give you a brief history my parents died before I was five and I was sent to live with an Aunt with my sister, then my sister was murdered by said Aunt's boyfriend and nothing really interesting has happened since- apart from discovering who my Uncle really was." Lita looked at the young woman, pity in her eyes, Sakura had had a harsh life and she deserved a much better one she only hoped that Syaoran could see this and he wouldn't treat her like any of his previous girlfriends. Sakura looked at Lita, her emerald eyes hard. "I do not want your pity." She said firmly, her eyes fell to the ground. "But I would like your friendship, if you're willing to give it to me." She added softly.

Lita glanced at Sakura startled; the girl was definitely straightforward if nothing else. "We'll see." She replied removing a pink kimono from the wardrobe. "I'm not an easy person to make friends with. I think this will suit you, why don't you try it on." Sakura smiled gratefully at Lita taking the kimono from her and moving to the bed where she stripped and put on the kimono.

"Thanks. Do I look okay?" She asked straightening the kimono absentmindedly. Lita turned around and took in Sakura's appearance- even Syaoran's sister Fuutie (whom the outfit had been designed for) did not look as good in it as she did- the silken material clung to her in all the right places. Lita beckoned her forward and indicated a chair in front of a large mirror, with a questioning look Sakura sat down obediently. Lita reached out and took the brush from the table and began brushing Sakura's hair gently.

"I'm just going to put your hair up." She explained, as she began twisting and fixing Sakura's hair. Ten minutes later she stood back to admire her handiwork, Sakura's hair was twisted up the back of her head with just the ends free and they were cascading back down her head over the twists (kinda like your hair looks if you stick it up in a crocodile clip). Sakura climbed daintily out of the chair and turned and bowed to Lita.

"Arigato" Sakura said bowing slightly to the other woman, as she straightened Lita frowned guessing that Sakura didn't know that you shouldn't do that to servants.

"You…" She began, but Sakura held up her hand guessing what Lita was going to say her eyes sparkled mischievously. 

"I know I shouldn't have, but how else can I thank you and show my respect?" She asked, thinking back to the time Uncle Fujitaka had caught her doing that and the telling off she had received when she and Nariko had been visiting. "Do you think Syaoran will be ready yet, and if so do you know where he'll be?" She enquired in the hope of changing the subject. Lita looked at Sakura directly in the eyes guessing, correctly, that Sakura wanted to change the subject.

"Follow me Miss Sakura and I'll take you to his room." She said, walking out the room and heading to where she knew Syaoran would be waiting.

Tomoyo

Tomoyo lay in her bed letting the sun's rays fall gently across her face as she began to organise her thoughts. Last night had been the scariest night of her life not just because she had witnessed Nariko's death but because of the way her best friend had acted. She had never seen Sakura like that, she had never seen her really fall apart and having witnessed that she knew why Sakura always hid her grief from her because Sakura had known how she would feel if she knew. She had looked so lost and the spark that had made her Sakura had seemed to have diminished and she was just standing there like a shell. Tomoyo knew she should see her today, but she couldn't bring herself to. So instead she picked up the phone and dialled Eriol's number, she needed someone to talk to.

Sakura

She paused outside the room where DI Yamagata was, Syaoran waited patiently next to her knowing that she needed a couple of minutes to gather herself together before she entered the room. Finally, she took a deep breath, straightened her kimono and turned to Syaoran her emerald orbs oddly shielded. "Let's do this." She said her voice soft and oddly emotionless.

"Are you sure?" He asked, disliking the changes in her that made her seem to cold and remote- like she was a million miles away instead of standing next to him. She nodded and he pushed open the door and they walked inside to find DI Yamagata pacing back and fourth in front of the fireplace as soon as he heard them Yamagata turned to face them his black eyes hard. He glanced at Syaoran, then dismissed him before turning his gaze onto Sakura who returned it emotionlessly.

"I told you we'd meet again." Yamagata said, ignoring Syaoran. "I knew you'd strike again." Syaoran saw Sakura bristle at Yamagata's comment, which was totally out of place and bounds. Then almost as if he had just realised that there was a witness to his comments, Yamagata turned to Syaoran. "Hello Mr Li." He said respectfully because of the wealth and power that the Li's possessed. Syaoran scowled at Yamagata.

"In case you didn't know this detective." Syaoran said coldly, purposefully missing out the inspector part of Yamagata's title. "Everyone is innocent until they are proven guilty, and I would prefer it if you were at least civil to my fiancée." Yamagata looked at him surprised, and Sakura smiled at him gratefully.

"Y…you're…you're fiancée?" Yamagata stuttered, unable to stop himself. Syaoran regarded him coldly.

"I believe you wanted to ask her some questions, you don't mind if I stay do you?" He asked in a tone that broached no argument.

Eriol

Tomoyo seemed very shaken up about the events of last night and he wasn't sure what to do, he wanted to protect her but knew that he couldn't. Maybe it would be easier for her if they broke up then she wouldn't need to witness how cruel people can be. He opened his mouth to say something but Tomoyo placed her delicate finger on his lips silencing him. "No." She said softly. "If you're going to say you want us to break up to protect me, then no I don't want to. It wasn't so much I saw Nariko die it was more Sakura's expression- she didn't seem like the Sakura I know."

"She's been through a lot maybe Nariko's death was the final straw?" He murmured hugging her tightly as tears began to fall down her face.

"What scares me the most is I don't think I can bear to be near her any more. I know she didn't kill Nariko but…" She trailed off as the tears fell in earnest. Automatically he rubbed her back, and let her cry as he murmured words of comfort to her. "She's my best friend for Christ's sake and I'm afraid of her." Tomoyo continued. "It's like I don't know her anymore." She pulled back out of the embrace to look at him directly in his sapphire eyes.

"She's still the same Sakura you know." Eriol said quietly and firmly. "You need to give her time. Weren't you the one to tell me that she found her sister's body? Maybe last night just brought all the memories back that she thought she'd forgotten? Syaoran will take care of her." He said firmly, hoping that his words were true.

Sakura

She watched as Yamagata got into his car and drove away, she turned away from the window abruptly and began shaking as all the tension left her. Seeing the concerned look in Syaoran's eyes Sakura forced herself to stop. "Well I guess we better go and see this Aurelius person." She said cheerfully, turning to face him her face composed.

"Sakura…" He began hesitantly.

"Don't." She said, a bit too harshly only realising this when she saw the flash of pain in his eyes. "Sorry, I… I just need to be like this right now Syaoran, it's the only way I'll cope." She admitted her eyes glistening with unshed tears, she turned away to hide this from him but he had already seen them. Without a word he walked up to her and hugged her tightly. For a couple of seconds she sagged against him, then she pushed him away gently her eyes closed off. With an exasperated sigh, he led the way to where their final 'guest' was waiting.

The room they entered was dark, and if it wasn't for the pale outline produced by the light coming through the window they would have both thought that the room was empty and that the person had gone home. "Sorry for the delay." Sakura apologised taking a seat in the chair, Syaoran sat next to her but didn't utter a word. "You wanted to see me?" She prompted after a moments silence.

The guy stood up and moved into the light, revealing himself. Sakura gasped in shock recognising him from last night. "You…" She began but couldn't bring herself to go any further.

"Yes, it was I who told you your aunt wanted to see you- I meant your aunt by blood. I am sorry for your loss." He added after a moments pause. "But I guess your aunt really did want to get revenge."

"Revenge?" Sakura echoed confused, Syaoran watched the guy closely- something about him wasn't right.

"Who are you?" He demanded the guy glanced at him and then dismissed him. Syaoran felt himself bristling- how dare anyone just dismiss him?!

"Revenge." Aurelius said firmly, as if Syaoran had never spoken. "For putting someone where they shouldn't be. You know that Chase did not kill Ayame so why did you let him go to jail for it?"

"He was found guilty in a court of law- what could I do?" Sakura snapped a sneer on her face. "Who would listen to a five year old? Wasn't it bad enough that he loved her and he had sex with her- so obviously being a paedophile he was going to kill her. The judge had already found him guilty- I could do nothing."

"You wouldn't have though- would you- if you could have?"

Sakura looked away from both of them and stared out the window into the dark street below, it was somewhat surprising that so much of t he day had already gone. "No, I wouldn't have." She said softly, not daring to look at either of them. "Because the possibility of what could have- and probably did happen- was worse. It was easier blaming him." Sakura swallowed. "I know it wasn't him- but I don't want to even think about who it could be, who my heart is telling me it is." She turned towards them, tears falling down her face. "Because if it is who I think it is- then I know why Nariko was killed and why they made their threat and I don't want to." Aurelius nodded in understanding.

"I suggest you go and see Chase tomorrow, he'd like to talk to you and he may be able to help you. Tomorrow's his last day inside, after that you'll have a tough time finding him." Sakura nodded and licked her lips, her eyes flickering to Syaoran.

"We'll see." She replied evenly deliberate looking away from both of them.

"What do you mean you'll see?" Syaoran snapped as the guy left the room. "You shouldn't go Sakura."

"I shouldn't." She agreed. "But I have to, I have to know the answers. I cannot live not knowing anymore." She sighed, "I take it you won't come with me."

"I can't." He replied gruffly. "I have business to attend to tomorrow." Sakura turned around and searched his eyes; something told her that there was something he wasn't telling her- that it was simple business why he was staying behind.

Lars

The hotel room was dark because he wasn't in the mood to put on the lights, he hadn't seen anyone all day apart from the earlier meeting Fujitaka had forced him to attend- but then that was kind of unavoidable because he had stayed with Ieran and Fujitaka since the killing and had occurred and there was no real excuse to make a run for it. He sat in his chair in complete and utter silence looking at the bright city through the windows. To think that he had once known this area like the back of his hand- now it was just some dim sketchy picture that he occasionally draw on. He sighed remembering how he used to tell Nadesiko that he would never leave this city, his home, but that had all changed after her marriage.

Never had he seen what was scary about the dark. To him the dark was fascinating, exciting, timeless and concealing- metaphorically and literally. A shadow, darker than the rest, stepped into the dim light that was streaming in through the open window. He could only see the figures outline, revealing that they were feminine. "Hello Lars." Uta said coolly. "Long time no see, too long perhaps."

"Yeah, it probably has been too long." Lars agreed, disguising a yawn with his hand. "How are you?"

"Fantastic, but I'll be feeling better in a couple of minutes." Uta said innocently moving towards Lars and throwing her arms around him in a gentle hug. Lars yelped feeling a needle dig into his neck, he grabbed Uta's arm and half threw her away from him.

"What did you do to me bitch?" He demanded his voice sluggish. Uta chuckled coldly as she watched him fall to the floor; unable to control his body his eyes burned into her with malice promising revenge once they were free. Uta dragged him into the bathroom and dumped him in the middle of the floor and went into the medicine cabinet removing his cut-throat razor.

"You see, there was a terrible accident last night." Uta said rolling him over onto his back, the blade catching the light and blinding him slightly. "And you were so overwhelmed with your grief and loss that you decided to kill yourself." She continued reasonably. "And there is no reason for anyone to suspect anyone else- because everyone knows you are beside yourself with grief." She shifted the razor in her hand slightly and moved it down towards his neck, her eyes cold and merciless as she began digging the knife into his flesh and then slowly and deliberately placing his hand above her own and dragging the blade across his neck, letting the blood splatter everywhere. 

Within minutes he was dead and she calmly stood up and exited the room, having completed her task of the day. Well, she had told Sakura that she would destroy everyone close to her and that was what she was doing- keeping her promise.

Sakura

She sat in bed, her knees drawn up to her stomach frowning at Syaoran who was standing across the room wearing a scowl on his face. They were in the middle of an argument that had somehow moved from one about the fact she wanted to- and was going to- see Chase to their relationship, and she had said something that could be taken one of two ways and Syaoran had taken it the wrong way. Without a word he turned and left the room.

Sakura sat where she was for a couple of seconds, and then in one fluid movement she was off of the bed and out of the door following him into his room. She closed the door purposefully behind her, causing him to swing around and glare at her because he hadn't realised that she had been following. "What do you want?" He snapped.

"Syaoran." She murmured helplessly.

"I told you to call me Li!" He snarled.

"Syaoran, I didn't mean it like that!" She said softly. "Please, will you hear me out and then I'll go." She paused slightly but received no response so she took that as her cue to continue. "The sex was fantastic this morning and I was aware of what I was doing, and I was doing it for the right reasons. It's just…" She trailed off unhappily, she stood there for a couple of minutes searching for the right words in her head.

"It's just what?" Syaoran prompted softly. Her shoulders dropped, like she was giving in and she lifted her head looking at him directly in the eyes.

"It's just I don't know where I stand with you. I know I'm going to be your wife, but that wasn't really your choice. I don't know how you stand with me, how I really feel about you. I trust you… but is that enough for either of us? I need someone I love and who loves me back, and well… we've only known each other a couple of days and I know I can't expect anything like that but the fact we're going to be husband and wife in a matter of days… I just…" She trailed off, not knowing how to continue. Her confession hung silently in the air for a couple of minutes and then she turned to leave, but he grabbed her wrist preventing her from leaving. Slowly she turned around to face him; nervously she licked her lip. Then he yanked her towards him and enveloped her in a hug, at first she stood rigid and then she relaxed into the hug and into him. "I just don't know anymore Syaoran, and it scares me." She whispered.

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Authors Note: 23.03.04- Wow, another chapter finished and again it's later than expected but at least it took less than a month to write. I hope you liked that chapter, I did it's given me clarity as to where the story is going and I estimate that there will be at least another three chapters (including epilogue) before this story is finished. Thank you for reading- and I only need twelve more reviews to reach my goal. ~Bex

A special thank you to all eighteen reviewers:

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choco-flavour: well here's an update, and I try to update as often as I can.

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b r o k e n: excuse me, it is not the same. Some parts I, will admit, are similar which I know is completely my fault but I do not- nor have I ever- purposefully copied LWL's work. I have, I think when I published the second chapter, emailed her and apologised for the similarity at the beginning and when I have finished and have some free time I will change it. This story is mine, and I am trying to write it to the best of my ability.

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tortured-soul-246: Yeah S+S is a VERY kawaii couple. Yeah, you're right it should be that *hangs head in shame* I guess I must have missed that when I read through the chapter- thank you muchly for pointing it out to me.

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Moonlight's Shadow: (cool name btw) Thanks for reviewing, I think it's only fair to thank readers because it is after all you guys (and gals [I wouldn't want to be accused of being sexist]) who I am writing for.

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sarah: Well… they haven't realised that they're in love, but there were some revelations this chapter, ne?

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annelee: Thanks for the review.

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EcuaGirl: I hope the sleeping together this chapter was more to your taste ^_~ lolz

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Shiroi Tsubasa: Thanks for your review n.n it helped me calm down, in a way ppl saying that makes me wish I hadn't written this story but I've got so far and I am determined to finish it.

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*~*NeCi*~*: Thankies n.n

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Scorpinac: Sakura didn't forget, it's just would you expect your aunt to kill someone and threaten you? I wouldn't. Uta's insanity will, however, be explained in a later chapter- I think.

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silverymare: Yeah, Nariko was Sakura's mother figure but that was why Uta killed her.

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Catherine: No, this story is not meant to be a mix of those two stories but I guess I can see why you said that. Thanks for reviewing.

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blueice04: thankies

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AmericanGirl1114: I hope S+S having sex wasn't took soon, I was in two minds about that but I decided to go along with it- I mean who wouldn't want to sleep with Syaoran? Lolz

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synchrogirl: thankies- I'm beginning to wonder if they ever will admit they like one another ^_~

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Frosted BlossomZ: *beams* Thank you muchly for the compliment.

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inulova: thankies for reviewing


	8. Smile Like There's No Tomorrow Part A

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D'Amour

By Bex Drake

Authors Note: Apologies, for the delay in writing and posting this chapter but this one was particularly hard for me to write so it ended up taking me longer than expected.

Smile Like There's No Tomorrow

Sakura

She looked at the man sitting opposite her. He wasn't anything to look at; he was the kind of guy you'd pass over in a crowd. He was dangerous, deadly and convicted of her sister's murder. Yet he was the only person she could turn to for the truth. Ah, the truth such a fickle thing. It could make you or break you in one swift move and she was just about to find out what fate had decided for her. "Hello Uncle Chase." She said softly brushing her hair away from her face as she studied him. His time in here had been hard, she could tell by the lines etched into his skin that was too pale and his eyes carried a horror in them that she had never seen before. Perhaps it had always been there but she had never seen it because she was too young.

"Hello Sakura." He replied trying to keep the surprise of his visit out of his voice. He hadn't seen her since the trail when he had been convicted of a murder he had never committed- the murder of her sister- and he had always felt that she thought he had done it. Perhaps he had, after all it was indirectly because of him that her sister was dead. "What brings you here?"

She bit her lip and looked at the floor. "I know this is a really strange question to ask and really insensitive on my part but I have to know." She looked up at him. "Did you love my sister? I mean really love her, or was she just the next person in a long line as far as you were concerned? That's what Aunt Uta wanted me to believe, only if that's the truth I'd like to hear it from your mouth." She looked at him beseechingly and Chase felt his heart beat painfully in his chest, she looked so much like her elder sister then that it was just heartbreaking. He swallowed.

"Yes." He replied quietly. "I loved your sister but I also caused her death. I should have got her… both of you out of that house and away from your Aunt."

"But you couldn't have Chase." Sakura remarked softly. "She'd have just called Social Services and they'd have taken us of you and given us back to her and then where would we have been?" Absent-mindedly she wiped a stray tear off of her cheek. "I can't tell you if Ayame love you in return, I was too young but I think she did. I think maybe she loved you more than she loved me." Sakura shrugged her eyes sad.

"Sakura? Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Chase said suddenly, she nodded. "Why are you here after all this time?" Silently Sakura berated herself, she should have expected this question.

"Because Aurelius said I should see you." She began and then launched into the whole story of what had happened recently. He listened attentively umm-ing and arr-ing occasionally to let her know that he was listening to her sorry tale. "And that's basically it." She said finishing with a shrug, "I wish I knew more about Aurelius and what his angle is in this." She grumbled.

"Maybe I can help you there." He remarked catching her off guard, she looked at him hopefully. "Before I was…put in here I was the leader of the Ravens or rather I was who everyone thought was the leader of the Ravens- like your Aunt for instance." He smiled wryly. "That was how we wanted it, well that's how the Raven himself wanted it. I'm forbidden to tell anyone the true identity of the Raven." He shrugged apologetically. "I know Marcus because of the Raven, he's a nice guy but only when he wants something. So be careful." He warned. Sakura bit her lip.

"I had a feeling that there'd be a catch somewhere." She wrapped some of her hair around her finger idly. "Do you know if he'd work for Uta?" She asked. "He was the one who told me that my Aunt wanted to speak to me." It was Chase's turn to look thoughtful.

"I think he could appear to be working for her." He said finally. "I don't think there's anything Uta can know about him that'll force him to do her bidding- she may think that she has. In fact there's only one person you could have used against him and she's dead now. He watched her die."

"He killed her?" Sakura questioned unable to stop herself.

"No, she had cancer and she wanted him to stay with her no matter what. So he saw the woman he loved die." Chase explained.

"Oh…" Sakura said softly blushing. "I… I shouldn't have jumped to conclusions." She said by way of apology. Chase smiled slowly.

"Don't worry about it." He advised. "You're not the first to think that nor will you be the last. I think he wants people to think that of him, so they fear him." Chase shrugged.

"Will you help me Uncle Chase?" Sakura asked glancing casually around the room, to make sure that no one was within hearing distance. Okay, it was stupid to ask him now, whilst he was inside and there was no real way to make sure you weren't listened in on- but what other choice was there? By tomorrow he'd have gone, vanished from sight and something told her that she would be unable to find hide or hair of him. "I know you're being released tomorrow and I have no right to ask you to risk your freedom but I have to ask. Lars is dead, he was found in his hotel room and it looked like a suicide but…" She sighed. "I just find that hard to believe. I need your help Uncle Chase." He looked at her before replying, his voice carefully measured so he wouldn't give away any of his thoughts.

"Do you have any idea what you're asking me?" He demanded. "Do you have any idea of the risk you want me to take?" She shrugged.

"I'm not naive, Uncle. I never was, I couldn't be with Uta as my Aunt. But that's not what you're asking are you? Let me guess you've still got contacts that have been keeping an eye on me. To put it simply I know what I'm asking, I know what it could cost you- me- by asking you a favour and offering you my protection but as you can see I have no choice. So what's your choice Uncle, would you like to come with me and pay my Aunt a visit?"

Syaoran

He looked across the dining room table at her in disbelief. "You did what?!" He asked calmly, the flash of fury in his eyes revealing to his companion his anger. "What right do you have to make that decision?"

"But that's just it Syaoran I have every right." His companion bit back furiously. "With Lars dead…"

"So you're going to cancel the wedding then Sakura?"

"No! When did I say that? When did our future marriage have anything to do with this Syaoran? This isn't about us."

"Like hell it isn't!" He snapped back, standing up and pushing the chair back from the table. "This has everything to do with us- with you and me." He bit the last bit out as though it was painful for him to say it. Syaoran picked up his wineglass and threw it across the room in Sakura's direction; it smashed against the wall behind her. The room descended into a death-like silence and Syaoran knew instinctively that he had crossed the line, that he had way over stepped the mark. He cringed slightly awaiting the tirade that he felt…knew was to come. But there was nothing, just the odd cold eerie silence. He looked at her, only to discover that she looked white- all the colour seemed to have drained from her face- and her eyes were as wide as saucers and she was trembling. In a flurry of movement she was up from the table and out of the room, as she shut the door he caught a glimpse of tears cascading down her cheeks and he felt his heart tighten. "Sakura?" He murmured softly to the shut door and the empty room.

Sakura

She stalked along the empty corridor absolutely furious. Furious with herself for letting him scare her, and furious at him for actually scaring her. It had been a long time since anyone had thrown anything at her. She cringed at the thought as the memories began resurfacing again. Damn him! Damn him! Angrily she brushed away the tears that were falling slowly down her cheeks. She hit the wall ahead of her, wincing at the pain that sped through her hand and slumping forward to rest her forehead against the cool wall. She turned over, so her back was resting against the wall and as her knees gave way she slid slowly down the wall until she was sitting at the bottom of the wall her arms wrapped around her legs. "Miss Sakura?" A hesitant voice questioned.

"Please, just go away." She begged between silent sobs.

"I'll just go and get Mr Syaoran…" The voice began.

"No, don't…" Sakura began looking up her vision blurry, but she could tell that Wei had gone. She sighed dejectedly, but stayed where she was realising that it'd do her no favours to get up and go anywhere- besides she wasn't totally sure if she could anymore…

Syaoran

He followed Wei down the corridors to where his friend/servant had said Sakura was. He couldn't leave it like it was, his mother had always taught him never to go to sleep on an argument because you didn't know what could happen over night and then where would you be? They turned the corner and he could see Sakura sitting on the floor and leaning against the wall like a lost child. "I'll be in the kitchen if you need me," Wei whispered and with that he was gone. He wouldn't admit it to anyone but he was worried.

"Sakura?" He said hesitantly taking a step towards her. He took one step, and then another and another when he received no response until he was standing ahead of her. "You're ignoring me aren't you?"

"No." Sakura replied her voice cracking with emotion. "Why would I give you the satisfaction of letting you know that you can get to me, that you can scare me." She hissed, refusing to look at him. "Chase is my Uncle and he loved my sister and I do not believe he murdered my sister, I think someone much closer to home managed that! With Lars dead I am the Panther, Syaoran and I have to act how I believe is best for the Panther's it doesn't matter how I really feel." She swallowed. "I need him, Syaoran and I need you too. Please, don't force me to choose between you and my duty as Panther." She wiped away some of her tears using the back of her hand, he opened his mouth to reply but she held up her hands her eyes holding his. "Please, let me have my say and then you can say what you like." She stood up and ran a hand through her hair tiredly. "Tomorrow, I want to go and ask the Raven for a truce."

"You what?!?!?!!" Syaoran yelled just as she had predicted.

"Which is why I would like you to come with me as a representative of the Wolves." She smiled crookedly. "Not a truce in the way you're thinking, I want to call a truce to the fighting between her and me- if she is who I think she is anyway."

"And just who do you think she is?" Syaoran bit out.

"My murdering Aunt Uta." Sakura replied with a scowl. "I don't want a truce truce that 'll last for forever. I just want one that will last five or so years so that no matter what happens the Wolves and the Panthers will become one and that they will have a leader- a Li as a leader." She said looking directly at him. "I was also thinking that the Panthers should take on the Wolves name so that we don't have to come up with a new name." He watched her suspiciously, wondering if she had anything else to throw at him but she stayed silent watching him awaiting any comments or criticisms he would care to throw her way. Which he did, she stayed silent through his outburst listening patiently as he listed criticism after criticism in a never ending stream, only when he began to repeat himself did she deign to interrupt. "You're repeating yourself." She commented dryly, to which she was rewarded a stream of swear words but she remained unmoved. "Come on Syaoran, what choice do we have? Things cannot continue the way they are. At the rate we are going at the moment she will destroy us and there will be no Wolves or Panthers!"

"What makes you think she'll agree if that's the case?" He snapped. Sakura smiled secretly.

"Oh, she'll agree alright!" She replied mysteriously. Syaoran threw his hands up in the air in a gesture of resignation and disgust. She bit back a laugh. "Did I ever tell you I love you?" She enquired.

"Nope." Syaoran replied looking at her surprised.

"Well I do." She said firmly kissing him.

Sakura

They stood before Uta, who was sitting reclined elegantly in a throne like chair watching them carefully. "I have a proposition to make Aunty." She said into the silence, "I think it may interest you and work to both our benefits." Uta smiled at her unmercifully.

"What makes you think you have anything to offer me, that will be to 'my benefit' as you so charmingly put it?" Sakura felt Syaoran and Chase tense on either side of her, but she ignored them thinking back to what Aurelius had said in their secret meeting. She walked towards Uta ignoring the stirring of her cronies until one foolish one placed himself in her path. She regarded him coldly, Zack watched his mistresses niece with interest as she stood before him. He would be damned before he let her get any closer.

"Move." She instructed softly, her emerald eyes daring him to say no. Foolishly he took the bait and stayed exactly where he was. Sakura curled her lip in annoyance. "Move." She repeated again, hoping he would take the hint but still he refused to move. She sighed in exasperation. Uta watched from her throne in amusement. "Okay, let me put this simply for you." Sakura said ignoring everyone else and focusing slowly on Zack. "Frankly, I don't give a damn who you are but if you don't more right now I'll give even less of a damn."

"No." He replied speaking at last. "I will not let you any closer." He spat, stepping back into a fighting stance. Sakura felt both Syaoran and Chase move to aid her but she wasn't planning on waiting for their arrival so she moved forward in a blur of movement feigning to the left in the hope that Zack would move that way before twisting to the right but she was just a hairsbreadth too slow. Zack grabbed her right arm and without thinking she twisted forcing her arm into a painful position before snapping her leg up and under his chin knocking him out cold.

"I can take care of myself." Sakura remarked quietly as Syaoran moved to stand next to her. He shrugged.

"Of course you can." He replied focusing on the crowd that had 'mysteriously' appeared in front of them. Uta lazily waved the crowd away and beckoned Sakura closer, she obliged and moved until she stood in front of her aunt.

"Just what is this proposition you are 'kindly' offering me?" Uta demanded. Sakura smiled recklessly at her aunt and then began to explain her proposition in detail. "So what you're offering is a truce of sorts. Neither you nor I will directly order an attack on the other for five years to give my unborn child a chance to grow up?" Sakura nodded, Uta looked at her suspiciously. "Just what's in it for you?" She demanded sourly.

"I also want a chance to rear a child." Sakura replied, "Without having to worry." Uta nodded.

"Fine we have a deal. Now get the hell out of here!" Sakura smirked.

"Later!" She called as she began walking to walk out of the building. Syaoran caught up with her and grabbed her elbow.

"What makes you think she'll keep to the deal?" He inquired.

"I don't, but a deals a deal when all is said and done. She won't attack me because she'll be worried about the retribution."

"No." Chase replied appearing at their side. "She won't attack because she's not a fool. She's bought herself some time." Sakura smiled mysteriously.

"We'll see…" She murmured.

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Authors Note: Well here it is, chapter eight. Finally it is complete… well only partially so. I was planning to write the whole chapter before I stuck it up but then I got to thinking that it wasn't fair on you guys to make you wait any longer than you already have. So here you have chapter eight part A. The concluding part of the chapter will be out soon.

I didn't start counting down earlier but there is only the completion of this chapter and the epilogue to go until I've finished this story, a whole lot later than I expected to. I hope you've enjoyed the tale so far. Unity, Bex Drake xxx

A special thank you to all who reviewed the last chapter:

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Collide: I doubt this chapter made you any less intrigued but I hope you liked it anyway :)

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NeCo: I didn't write a lemon because to be honest I was scared to try because I have read so many good ones and seen so many bad ones that I guess I was worried I'd fall into the bad ones category. Sorry if I disappointed you and my deepest apologies for not updating sooner!

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Moonlight's Shadow: I'm glad you liked the previous chapter and I hope you liked this one as well.

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Frosted BlossomZ: Thanks for the review :)

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EcuaGirl: Unfortunately no, there won't be another sex scene simply because I am no longer comfortable writing this story and I just don't feel I'm writing it well. The story was going to end in another two chapters anyway but… I don't know. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter part and that it was an interesting chapter for you, I tried my best to make it so.

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Cherry Jade: Thanks muchly for the review :)

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Scorpinac: Ah, as to Uta's fate the concluding part of chapter eight will answer your questions on that ;)

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silverymare: I'm making no promises about who lives and who dies, you'll have to read the final part of this chapter for that ;)

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AmericanGirl1114: Yes, Sakura is the leader of the Panther's as I hope I made clear in this chapter. :)

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Rushi Star: Thanks for the review!

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Serena73: To be honest I was toying with the idea of pairing off Lars and Nariko but the plot faeries had other ideas, unfortunately. I try to make every chapter around 6k words, which is sometimes a hard target to reach without rambling on and I know that I sometimes tend to do that.

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TheMysticWarrior: Wow. Thanks! What can I possibly say? LOL. I'm glad you liked the story, for me it's been quite hard to write but getting reviews like yours make it worth while :) I'm sorry I didn't update sooner but life (as it always tends to do) got in the way.

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Yaua: Thanks for the review!

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synchrogirl: I'm glad you reviewed and I'm currently trying to churn this story out as fast as I can :)

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shimmery.sparkles: A cool name, btw. Sorry but you'll just have to wait a little longer to find out Uta's fate- not too long though this time!

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a reviewer: Thank you for your comments, I have to say I agree with your idea that many people have the same idea but… well you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink ;) What I'm trying to say is, that for ever flame I've got I think there are at least five nice reviews- so I must be doing something right. I've done all I can to appease the flamers and well… in the long run they're only helping me gain reviews by flaming because well… they're adding to my review total. So thanks for the review and thanks for the support


	9. Smile Like There's No Tomorrow Part B

**D'Amour**

**Author's Note:** Just to make sure everyone's clear- Uta is the only one who is pregnant at the time the deal is made, or rather is aware that they are pregnant.

My appologies for yhr delay with Part B, but it just refused to write and it made me realise that I didn't like writing this anymore. So I stopped. But, then I realised how unfair that was to you the reader. So here I am trying my best to finish this story the best I can.

Thanks to: AmericanGirl15, Scorpinac, NeCi, TheMysticWarrior, a reviewer, heather, Rushi Star, Frosted BlossomZ, nitengale, Immortal-Blood, hellokittychic and Wolf Jade.

Bex Drake.

Smile Like There's No Tomorrow (Part B)

_Five Years Later…_

>>Sakura.

The five years she had requested from her aunt were up, officially a week ago. As yet nothing had happened. She was worried.

In five years she had married Syaoran and together they had begun to build and rebuild a vast empire. There was only one obstacle in the way- Uta. "Mummy!" A voice whined. She glanced up from the kitchen counter top, where she was in the process of making lunch.

"Yep?" She replied as three children trooped into the room. Two of the group had honey brown hair, the eldest of the two who was four had hazel eyes whilst the youngest who was three had dark green. The third child had black hair and dark violet eyes and she was about four and a half. All three children were muddy and the youngest had tears streaming down her face. "What's wrong sweetie?" Sakura asked the youngest kneeling down next to her.

"She fell over Mum." Explained Hiroshi as Sakura enveloped Kyoko in a hug, humming her children's favourite nursery rhyme softly. Hiroshi and Aya moved closer to Sakura, so she brought them both into the hug her eyes troubled.

"Aunty Sakura there was a strange man outside." Aya whispered. Sakura took a deep breath, feeling uneasy, and stood up her eyes flashing.

"Go to your room." She instructed moving to the cupboard and pulling out three packets of crisps, some biscuits before moving onto another and pulling out some drinks and placing them all into a bag along with some fruit. She handed the bag to her son. "I want you to go to your room and tell Lita that Mummy told you to lock the door and that no one is to come into the room unless you know them. Do you understand Hiroshi?" She asked softly. He nodded his face as determined as his father's. She bit back a smile and watched them leave the room, before she went into the garden she waited until she could hear their steps on the stairs and the sound of Lita's surprised voice and the slam of a door. Smiling grimly she reached under a set of cupboards and pulled out a gun- well, there was no sense in being stupid. Being stupid meant you died and Sakura didn't plan on doing that just yet.

As she had expected it was indeed one of Uta's henchmen waiting outside in the garden fiddling with a gun still in its holster. She smirked; the guy appeared to be nothing more than an amateur but she had been fooled in the past. Schooling her face into an impassive mask that would have rivalled her husband's she deliberately stood on a twig watching with grim satisfaction as the guy turned. "What do you want?" She enquired lazily, making no effort to discover the guy's name. Long ago she had learnt that it was stupid to know the name of someone you were going to end up killing, it only made the whole experience more personal and you wanted, no needed, to keep the killing strictly business.

"I am here on behalf of my boss." The guy replied his voice neutral. "With a message for Li Sakura."

"I am she." Sakura said coldly.

"The boss said it has begun." He said calmly before divulging some extra information that was for Sakura's ears alone then he turned to leave.

"Thanks for the message." She called, he turned around in time to see her smile coldly at him, raise her gun and shoot. It took all of five seconds. She turned to go back in to the house; she would dispose of the body later. "So it has begun, the final crescendo is about to be played and all the players are in position"

Later that night Sakura lay in bed cuddling up to Syaoran, the rest of the house was dark and eerily silent. They could hear the breathing of their children down the hall. "We need to end this sooner rather than later." Sakura said into the darkness, that seemed to grow darker still at her words. "I will not have our children growing up in fear. This has to be sorted out once and for all." Syaoran's arm snaked around her, pulling her closer to him. He kissed the top of her head gently. Earlier they had discussed battle tactics and had decided that they were going to strike tomorrow.

"It will all be over soon, I promise." He whispered.

She twisted so she could see him better, with a trace of a smile on her lips. She leaned in and kissed him. At first the kiss was soft and gentle but it got more passionate as their lips moved in unison. Teasingly she moved away from his lips and began placing butterfly kisses along his jaw and down his neck. It had been years since they had slept together wearing anything, the last time had probably been before their youngest was born and before Tomoyo had pointed out in her 'tactful' way that they were in love with one another.

His hands moved down to cup her breasts, his thumbs gently brushing over them. She gasped making him smile. For three years he had been making love to the same woman every night and to his surprise he found that he relished the idea that she was his alone and he was hers alone also. She seemed to fit against him, and her smile could light up the gloomiest days. He loved her more than anyone else in the world and he would do anything to make her happy which was why he had agreed to act so soon against his better judgement.

She captured his mouth again with hers, her hands moving slowly down his back. The world disappeared in lustful love.

>>Aurelius

His plans were coming to an end. Tomorrow was make or break day on more than one level. If fate needed a helping hand then Marcus was prepared to give it more than one. He would not fail his people again. Uta would die and so would those who chose to follow her once they realised the truth. He smirked, watching the dark city below. Sometimes family hatred had its advantages and so did love, because some people would pay any price to protect the ones they loved. He chuckled cruelly.

>>Sakura

They were all outside hidden in the shadows waiting for the last Raven to get their too slow arse into the compound. It was frustrating. Sakura knew that her children would be okay, they had stayed the night over at Eriol and Tomoyo's house where the security was as good as it was at home. Tomoyo had wanted to join the battle but being four months pregnant Eriol had talked her out of it and instead she had consented to protect the kids as long as Sakura made sure that Eriol made it home in one piece. Sakura would be damned if she didn't keep that promise.

Hidden in the shadows with her where hundreds of Wolves, as the Panthers had long ago abandoned their name and become Wolves, hidden within this large mass was Sakura herself, Syaoran, Eriol, Touya and Chase.

It was time for the final battle.

As the last foolish Raven moved inside the building, she stood up her auburn hair whipping around her face in the wind and her emerald eyes glowing with an intense anger. She was going to finish it tonight, whatever the cost. She looked at Li who nodded before moving out of the shadows towards the main door of the complex. She knocked on the door and stood waiting tapping her foot, shooting glances around occasionally as if she had been stupid enough to come here on her own. "Yes?" Someone drawled on the other side of the door. Her attention instantly snapped to the door.

"I'm here to see Uta, with a message for her." She replied icily.

"And you are?"

"Me? I am Sakura." She could hear them whispering with one another through the door, debating what to do. They could kill her now, but if that were against Uta's wishes they too would shortly be dead so they wouldn't risk it. After a couple of seconds the door opened and the four guarding the entrance walked out with their guns pointed directly at her, Sakura resisted the overwhelming temptation to roll her eyes- they were so predictable. Slowly she brought her hands up so they were raised in the air, signalling to the guards that she had come in peace and that there were no weapons in her hands. Three of them lowered their guns but the forth kept his pointed directly at her.

The Wolves moving in the darkness where almost impossible to see even for Sakura and she knew what they were up to and roughly where they were. After she received the signal, she vaulted over the heads of the guards landing with the grace of a cat behind the one whom had the gun. Whilst she had been jumping overhead he had managed to get a clear shot at her, the bullet ramming itself firmly into her shoulder bone. She gritted her teach as she stood up facing him, ignoring the gun he placed on her temple, and smiled cruelly. "Tell your people to beak off their attack." He snarled.

"Go to hell!" She retorted coldly, enunciating every word clearly, before kicking his legs out from under him and ducking so that if he did get a shot off it wouldn't hit her. The guy landed on his back with a thud, she kicked the gun out of his hand and positioned a knife against his neck that she had just removed from a hidden compartment in her sleeve. "Surrender or die." She whispered, pressing the blade against his neck. He swore at her repeatedly. "I guess you choose death then." She remarked idly as she slit his throat and stood up. Looking around she noticed that all four guards were lying dead. "Come on people, let's move." She instructed drawing her gun and walking into the compound, ignoring the pain of the bullet in her shoulder. Now was not the time to deal with it. They moved forward together, their movements synchronised, as they entered the building before splitting up into preordained groups and heading to set areas. Syaoran nodded to Sakura, Eriol at his back, together the three of them moved forward in the fray one target on their minds.

It wasn't hard to spot Uta, the number of 'guards' she had around her made her position ridiculously obvious even to an untrained child. "Not prepared to face me Aunt?" Sakura taunted, as the battle flared around them. Uta turned around and looked down at her niece from the daises.

"So you got my invitation?" She remarked lazily. "To end this you've got to reach me Sakura." She chuckled sitting down in a throne like chair. "I wish you luck- you'll need it." Uta taunted, before she had finished her sentence her guards raised their guns and pointed them at the trio. Sakura threw a glance at Eriol and Syaoran.

"We'll draw their fire. Make sure you get up there." Eriol instructed his hand slowly moving towards his gun.

"Are you guys sure?" She questioned her emerald eyes worried. Syaoran raised his gun and shot one of the guards.

"Yes. Now move." He instructed as he and Eriol dived for cover. She shot a troubled look over her shoulder in their direction and began heading towards her aunt. As the battle raged around her Sakura had eyes only for her Aunt. She shot those unfortunate enough to get in her way, but otherwise she paid them no heed.

Seeing her niece nearing Uta got up and walked quickly from the room, cursing Sakura moved quicker and set off after her without a backward glance. She followed her Aunt down a dark corridor; unaware that Syaoran had got shot when his attention had wandered too long as he watched her leave.

The corridor exploded behind her, knocking her off her feet.

She scrambled to her feet cursing softly. There was no going back now. Only forward, after her Aunt. The corridor seemed endless; dark; cold, unforgiving. Rather like her life, she thought ironically. Rather like the life she would make damned sure that her two children would never have. Ever. They would, instead, have the life that Syaoran had led. That she and her sister had longed to live. To be loved and above all else to have somewhere to belong.

Sakura was surprised that she hadn't been attacked yet. Her Aunt was never usually this sloppy. A smile crept unbidden onto her face as she came across a room lit by candlelight. As she entered the room she heard a loud bang and the world shook and she slipped into darkness.

>>Syaoran

They had never found her body.

All he could remember of the day he last saw his wife was her determinedly following after her Aunt. It wasn't long after she had disappeared into the darkness that he had been shot, and that Eriol had forced him to leave the building. If he had stayed he would have been with his wife now.

Some unknown figure had managed to shoot him in both the shoulder and the leg, so he had needed Eriol to help him get away. They all bore scars from that day, physically and psychologically. The kids didn't really understand that there mother was never coming back; Tomoyo blamed herself for staying behind, if she'd have gone she would have been with Sakura as the building exploded. Eriol wished he could have done more and he; he knew he shouldn't have let her go on her own, that he should never have agreed to the abrupt attack on her Aunt.

Today was the funeral.

They were finally laying her to rest. He was finally letting her go. Hiroshi and Kyoko sat and watched him silently, already dressed in black, as he straightened his tie. They were all he had left now, other than the gang and he no longer had the heart to run that but he had too. At least until Hiroshi was old enough and then he could step down.

The house was too sombre, too quiet. Oh there was still laughter, and smiles; there were good times and bad times, but something irreplaceable was missing. The house no longer felt like home and Syaoran realised with a sudden certainty that without Sakura there with him, he could no longer live in the house. He'd keep it, preserve it, so he'd never forget her but never again would he live there, for it was her house. No one but her deserved to live there with him. But the kids would need a mother…

"It's time." Tomoyo said from the door, her eyes no longer seemed quite so full of life. In the depths there was a dark knowledge that had never been there before, a deep hurt that would never truly fade. They had all loved Sakura. She was what had brought them all together; she'd been there for the good and the bad, and always with the right thing to do or to say. Now she was gone and they were left bereft.

He straightened, and turned to face her. His face echoing hers; drowning in an endless torrent of pain. But life must gone on. Sakura would have wanted them to live, so he would but he'd wait in the shadows, never quite dancing in the light but not far from it, until he could be with her again. He held his hands out to his children, and they each took one. Hiroshi took his left and sweet little Kyoko took his right. Together; united in their grief they joined Tomoyo in the hall. As a family they went downstairs to begin what would turn out to be the longest day in any of their lives.

The day that they buried Sakura.

>>Someone.

The café was brim full of tourists, as it was every summer. People were crowded round tables chatting animatedly, children were rushing about playing, couples were sitting in alcoves. The place was alive; music playing against the thrum of human voices as people talked, argued, shouted and laughed. Brilliant emerald eyes watched the scene in front of them, "Why have you brought me back here?"

"To celebrate." The emerald eyes looked quizzically at the speaker. "It was a year ago today you turned up here, my dear, and we first met- do you remember?"

"I- I was lost, and I couldn't remember who I was." The emerald eyed woman laughed; but her eyes betrayed her sadness. Sometimes in the middle of the night she would sit up and wonder who she had been. Had someone loved her, and if they had did they miss her? She hoped not. She was happy, here in the village of Mousehole, Cornwall in England with Peter Werrington. She didn't want to remember who she had been; the nightmares with the blood and the men with no faces scared her.

"Jessie?" She looked at Peter; he had been the first person to help her when she had turned up mysteriously on the shingle beach. Somewhere along the way, she had fallen in love with him. He was handsome, in a boyish way, with sandy hair and expressive amber eyes. He didn't care that she knew nothing of her past, of who she had been. For all she knew she could have been a murderer. "Will you marry me?" She looked into those amber eyes, oddly hesitant and smiled.

"Yes." She whispered, the smile broadening as he placed a diamond ring on her left hand. "I will."

**Author's Note:**

And so here it ends.

Not quite how I was originally planning to end it, but this was how it wanted to be written. But here it is, did it live up to your expectations? It was also longer than I planned, but the more I wrote the more that seemed to be needed to be written.

I bet you're wondering if Jessie is Sakura, and I can quite honestly tell you that she isn't. Sakura died as the building exploded around her. Jessie is someone else entirely; someone who never had a twin sister, who was never abused as a child and someone who never fell in love with the enigmatic Syaoran Li. I suppose, she is who Sakura could have been if she hadn't been Sakura.

Adieu.  
Bex


End file.
